Chapter 91
Chapter 91: The Cub’s Dad Thought the Cub’s Mom Ate Too Much, So He Wouldn’t Feed Her
Jiang Tea Tea had expected him to dodge.
She hadn’t expected his kick to come straight for her lower back.
She twisted sideways and barely avoided it. Her mind raced through a spell, and she activated shrink the earth to an inch, flashing behind him in the same instant.
Her branch-staff, wrapped in magic power, snapped toward his waist.
Chong Ming leaned forward and avoided it. He turned, calm as ever. “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea, your blink-shift ability is at least above 3S rank. Very impressive.”
He’d called shrink the earth to an inch a blink shift.
Honestly, in this world, that was fair enough. If that’s what he wanted to call it, fine. Blink shift it was.
Her strike missed—on purpose this time.
She didn’t pull it back. She whipped the branch into the battleship wall.
Crack.
Metal buckled inward.
Jiang Tea Tea looked back at him with a bright, vicious smile. “Your blink shift isn’t bad either. But the way you hold back and test me is ugly.”
She couldn’t deny it—her speed wasn’t as fast as his.
His kick looked vicious, but he’d deliberately slowed it. He’d left her time to dodge. Time to blink. Time for him to pull back.
He wasn’t trying to hurt her. He was measuring her, counting her abilities and their strength.
Chong Ming didn’t bother denying it. “I wasn’t testing you. If my kick actually landed on your lower back, it would break your spine.”
His voice stayed even. “I want a living Commander-in-Chief candidate. Not one with a broken waist.”
Jiang Tea Tea pulled her branch back. “So I’m supposed to thank you?”
“Thanks aren’t necessary.” Chong Ming sounded almost courteous. “You’re young, you have multiple abilities, and you should be spirited—arrogant, bold, bright, carefree. Nose in the air. Eyes up on the ceiling.”
How was he saying this with a deadpan face, like he wasn’t openly mocking her?
Jiang Tea Tea rolled her eyes hard. “You love selling big promises and hiring workhorses. Aren’t you afraid one day those workhorses will gore you?”
Chong Ming blinked once, slow and calm. “I don’t sell promises. I bake the pie and stuff it into my subordinates’ mouths.”
His tone turned faintly amused. “Whoever has the ability to swallow it, earns it. My promises are always kept. The excellent rise.”
His gaze lingered on her. “And I truly look forward to you passing my evaluation and replacing me as Commander-in-Chief.”
Jiang Tea Tea kept walking. “Don’t hope too hard. I’m lazy. And I have a terrible temper.”
According to Cheng Lin Yue, if the cubs didn’t receive their dad’s psychic-force soothing, they’d develop problems—like binge eating.
Jiang Tea Tea was starting to suspect her hunger wasn’t really hers.
Every time she drank Chong Ming’s blood, warmth flooded her belly and her magic power climbed. Maybe it was because he was a dragon, a pure yang creature. Or maybe it was the cubs’ craving for psychic-force soothing.
Not hers.
Theirs.
Chong Ming matched her pace beside her. “I can see that. But it doesn’t matter. The empire has countless soldiers. Those with real strength often have bad tempers. As long as you don’t betray the empire or break the law, everything else is minor.”
Jiang Tea Tea side-eyed him. “Confident.”
Chong Ming met her gaze. “Enough.”
Jiang Tea Tea tried to sound casual. “Your big nephew said if you release ability pressure at him, he collapses like a lapdog. Release some. Let me feel it.”
Chong Ming laughed under his breath. “After Sui Xuan Chu’s disguise got exposed, he doesn’t even bother acting in front of you anymore?”
Jiang Tea Tea sold him out without a shred of guilt. “No point acting after your mask slips.”
She added, bright with malice, “He complains about you a lot. Says you’re a tyrant. Says you’re going to die alone and never find a mate.”
Chong Ming’s smile vanished.
Jiang Tea Tea noticed the flicker of displeasure—and it made her happy. “I’ll be sure to pass your thanks along.”
Then she added, innocent as poison, “By the way, have you ever released mental pressure on me?”
Chong Ming answered with a single word. “Yes.”
Jiang Tea Tea froze. “Yes? Really? Why don’t I feel anything at all?”
He sounded almost reluctant. “You’re immune to my mental pressure.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes widened so hard it felt like the world tilted.
Immune?
What kind of terrifying sentence was that?
She’d been hoping he could quietly release some mental pressure to soothe his own cubs. If she was immune, how was she supposed to—
Chong Ming watched her stare. “You don’t believe me?”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded honestly. “Not really.”
Chong Ming sighed. “From the first time I saw you at the Royal Military Academy, I’ve been releasing my pressure at you.”
“The first round of the championship. And now.” His voice stayed level. “I’ve been pressing you the whole time. And you’ve felt nothing, like it doesn’t exist—”
“Seriously?” Jiang Tea Tea suddenly leaned in close, trying to feel it.
Chong Ming jolted back two quick steps, widening the distance. “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea. Has no one taught you not to suddenly lean in close to a male?”
Jiang Tea Tea stared up at him. “What are you afraid of? I can’t beat you.”
Chong Ming’s voice turned firm. “Male and female are different. Besides fighting and serious matters, don’t get too close. Keep some distance.”
Jiang Tea Tea snorted. “Relax. I’m not interested in you. I just want to feel your mental pressure up close. That’s all.”
He pointed toward the far end of the ship. “Look at them.”
Jiang Tea Tea followed his finger.
A group of soldiers on guard duty were visibly struggling—faces pale, cold sweat on their foreheads, calves trembling. One leaned hard into the bulkhead just to stay standing.
His mental pressure was that heavy?
Jiang Tea Tea kept walking and kept looking. It wasn’t just one group. Several groups looked like that. Some couldn’t even stay upright; they sat on the ground, drenched in sweat like rain, dripping off their chins.
Jiang Tea Tea frowned. “Are their mental power levels low?”
Chong Ming answered calmly. “They’re my bodyguard combat troops. Their ability levels are all above 3S. Some are 4S. Some are 5S.”
He added, “Drop them alone and let them fight—abilities or fists—and ten instructors together still wouldn’t match one of them.”
And Jiang Tea Tea still couldn’t feel anything.
Was it because she was a demon?
Or was the pressure going straight into her belly, soothing the cubs…?
She checked herself. No discomfort. No strain. Nothing.
Jiang Tea Tea made a decision on the spot. “After I beat Jiang Yi Cheng, we’ll find a private room. You release your mental pressure and let me feel it.”
Chong Ming said, “We’ll discuss that later.”
Later my ass, Jiang Tea Tea thought, but she didn’t say it out loud. She just sulked as she walked.
Chong Ming brought her to the room where Jiang Yi Cheng was being held.
He’d only been here two days. No one had beaten him or screamed at him, but he looked wrecked—eyes bloodshot, face dark and greasy.
He didn’t look twenty. He looked forty.
The moment he saw Jiang Tea Tea, disbelief flashed across his face, then wild joy.
He jumped up and rushed toward her. “Tea Tea! Sister! You came to take me out, right? Take me out! I don’t want to stay here, I don’t want to stay—”
Jiang Tea Tea drove her fist into his stomach.
He doubled over, words cutting off like someone had slammed a door.
Her foot smashed into his knee. As he collapsed, she hooked an uppercut into his jaw, snapping his head back.
A tooth flew out. Blood sprayed. He hit the floor hard, clutching his stomach, his knee, his jaw—pain everywhere.
Jiang Tea Tea stepped in and kicked him full-force in the stomach.
He flew backward, slammed into the wall, and slid down like a broken doll.
She walked up and started kicking him again and again—hard, relentless, brutal.
He vomited blood. He screamed. He begged. He nearly stopped moving.
Only then did Jiang Tea Tea stop. She flicked her messy hair back, turned, and walked out.
A healer from the battleship’s Medical Department rushed in immediately for emergency treatment.
Jiang Tea Tea glanced at them and said to Chong Ming, “I didn’t kill him. You don’t have to act like I’m executing prisoners.”
Chong Ming replied evenly, “You didn’t kill him. You just beat him half to death. His crimes haven’t been confessed or sentenced yet. If he dies, or ends up crippled, or suffers lasting damage because of you, it complicates things.”
Jiang Tea Tea shrugged. “Oh. Got it. Your cafeteria?”
Chong Ming’s gaze dropped to her stomach. “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea, do you want me to pull up footage of you eating on the grasslands today? Do you want to see how much you ate? And you still want to eat?”
Stingy bastard.
Fine. If he wouldn’t feed her, she’d feed herself.
She was a great demon. It wasn’t like she couldn’t raise a few cubs.
If she gave birth to dragon hatchlings, she’d beat them into shape.
If she somehow gave birth to little saplings… she’d spoil them rotten.
The chance of saplings was basically zero.
But hope was hope.
Jiang Tea Tea settled for less. “Then give me some nutrient fruit?”
Chong Ming narrowed his eyes. “Twenty days ago you took 1,500 jin of nutrient fruit off my battleship. Don’t tell me you finished it.”
“I finished it,” Jiang Tea Tea said, without blinking.
Chong Ming’s gaze darkened. “Should I take you to the Medical Department for an examination?”
Jiang Tea Tea turned and walked away without looking back.
Confirmed. He was the cubs’ dad.
Confirmed. She couldn’t rely on him.
And since she couldn’t beat him, the only smart move was to leave.
Chong Ming didn’t follow. He watched her back, about to remind her that being sick wasn’t something you could avoid just by refusing doctors.
Jiang Tea Tea had already walked several steps away.
Then she abruptly turned around and marched back.
She stopped in front of him and—without drawing on any magic power at all—hammered her fist into his stomach.
Chong Ming stood like a pine tree. He didn’t bend even half an inch, like he couldn’t feel pain.
He looked down at her. “You didn’t use any ability. Your punch is soft and weak, but your attitude is fierce.”
His voice dipped. “You’re angry. You deliberately hit my stomach. Is this revenge for the kick I gave you at the Royal Military Academy?”