Chapter 92

Chapter 92: We’re Targeting You—Cross the Line and We’ll Beat You Down

Jiang Tea Tea lifted her chin and admitted it, reckless and blunt. “I can’t beat you. I’m jealous that you’re stronger. I’m annoyed. That’s all.”

Chong Ming laughed softly. His harsh features softened for an instant, like spring snow melting. “Is that so?”

He paused, then said with perfect sincerity, “Then I apologize for being strong.”

Bastard loach. Listen to him.

That wasn’t an apology. It was bragging with a straight face.

Just wait, she told herself. When her magic power recovered fully, she’d grind him into the dirt.

Jiang Tea Tea exhaled hard, forcing down her temper. “Let me punch you again?”

Chong Ming arched a brow. “With your abilities?”

Jiang Tea Tea nodded firmly. “Yes. Will you let me?”

“Sure,” Chong Ming said. “But you have to tell me the name of the invisibility-ability woman who rescued you at the First Hotel.”

Jiang Tea Tea’s face went cold. “Goodbye.”

She turned and walked off without another word.

Chong Ming watched her retreating back until he was sure she wouldn’t return. Then he issued an order toward the direction she’d gone, instructing the ship’s guards to guide her out and point her to her flyer.

He returned to the command room.

On one screen, instructors were tracking and eliminating other cadets. On another, he pulled up Jiang Tea Tea’s records—everything she’d touched and everyone she’d met over the last ten years—and started flipping through.

Jiang Tea Tea climbed into her flyer, started it, and skidded through the battleship’s interior before shooting out of the lower bay.

She’d been dragged around for over an hour. By the time she flew out, it was after four in the morning. The sky was paling. The world was quiet, mist curling low, the air crisp and fresh.

She took the flyer to the area with the most wildlife and a water source, baited prey, and started hunting.

By the time she was done, the carcasses were piled like a small hill. She kept a few and stuffed the rest into her storage button.

She skinned them. Cleaned them. Marinated them. Dug up wild greens. Gathered dry firewood.

Then she put a pot on. Stewed meat. Roasted meat. Cooked until the scent spread wide.

When the sun rose, Cheng Lin Yue and the others received Jiang Tea Tea’s message and coordinates. They took their flyer straight to her.

The moment they stepped out, they smelled it—vegetables, meat, and the rich char of roasting fat.

Jiang Tea Tea tore off a roasted duck leg and shoved it straight into Huang Da Zhuang’s mouth. “Eat. Hurry. When you’re done, we’re going to stroll around the whole planet.”

Huang Da Zhuang’s mouth was stuffed full. He bit down with sharp teeth.

Crack.

He snapped the duck bone like it was nothing.

Sui Xuan Chu and the others ran over. “What do you mean, stroll around the whole planet? We’re not hunting the instructor team anymore?”

“Yes,” Jiang Tea Tea said. “Learn to be lazy. Save your strength. Eat well, drink well, sleep well, and play well.”

Their personal scores and squad score were so far ahead they were in a completely different league. What was the point of grinding themselves down?

They still had more than half a month left. As long as they didn’t get caught and have their throats wiped, they could do whatever they wanted.

The others decided she was absolutely right.

So after eating, the eight of them took their flyers and started joyriding all over M31-1137.

Sometimes they deliberately avoided the instructor team and other cadets.

Sometimes they deliberately flew right over people’s heads, arrogantly taunting them from the sky and enjoying the helpless rage below.

Whenever their flyers ran out of energy, they’d hunt an instructor team, steal supplies, refuel, and keep flying.

For the next twenty days, Jiang Tea Tea’s life was basically this: eat until she was full, sleep at night, and root herself into the ground to absorb nutrients and fertilizer like a proper tree demon.

The cubs’ movements grew stronger. Counting the days, she was just shy of three months along.

Sometimes she used magic power to peer into her belly. The cubs were obedient—well-fed, well-behaved, not troublesome.

The only problem was that every single one of them was a dragon hatchling. Not a single seed. Not a single sapling.

And worse—each tiny cub, not even half the length of her pinky finger, gleamed gold.

It was enough to make a demon furious.

Jiang Tea Tea yanked Sui Xuan Chu aside. “I want to ask you something.”

Sui Xuan Chu held a string of wild fruit, one piece hanging from his mouth. “What’s with the secrecy? Why drag me aside?”

Jiang Tea Tea stared at him. “You said before that your true body color and even your blood color can be changed with dye and medication. That’s true?”

“Yes,” Sui Xuan Chu said, puzzled. “Why?”

Jiang Tea Tea held out her hand. “Give me some of that dye serum and the pills. I want to study them.”

Sui Xuan Chu made a sound of disbelief. “Study them for what? They’re custom. One dye treatment lasts three months. One dose of pills lasts half a year.”

Jiang Tea Tea didn’t explain that she was preparing for the worst.

If the cubs came out bright gold, anyone would know their bloodline belonged to the golden dragon imperial clan. If Old Loach found out, he’d take them by force—and she couldn’t win a fight against him.

She needed that dye and those pills in advance. The second the cubs were born, she’d dye them and dose them.

Then she’d figure out how to take them back to the demon clan.

A tree demon returning with dragon cubs?

The entire demon clan would kneel. They’d worship. She’d become a legend.

Jiang Tea Tea pushed her open palm forward again. “Just give me a few vials. I’m curious.”

Sui Xuan Chu slapped her palm lightly. “I told you. I don’t have any on me. My uncle’s battleship does.”

“When my color starts fading, I’ll go ask him. I’ll ask for extra and bring it to you.”

Jiang Tea Tea’s hand dropped. “You can’t ask for extra now?”

“No,” Sui Xuan Chu said immediately. “I don’t know what you want it for. But if my uncle finds out, he’ll investigate.”

He lowered his voice. “He’s stubborn. He’s obsessive. He’s focused. And he moves fast. If I make the slightest suspicious move, he’ll know.”

Then he added bluntly, “To be honest, I have tracking chips in my blood. Tracking chips in my flesh. Tracking chips in my brain. There are at least four chips in my body.”

He pointed upward. “And what do you think is in the sky?”

Jiang Tea Tea looked up. “Besides clouds and blue sky? Nothing.”

Sui Xuan Chu corrected her. “Wrong. It looks like nothing. But there are at least three satellites aimed at me.”

“Three is the minimum. If we were on capital planet, there’d be five, eight, maybe more. Twenty-four hours a day. No breaks.”

Jiang Tea Tea immediately stepped away from him. “So you have no secrets. And anyone around you has no secrets, either.”

Sui Xuan Chu blinked at her like she’d asked the dumbest question in the galaxy. “Sister Tea… how can you ask something so stupid? I thought the day you found out who I really am, you’d already understood there are no secrets around me. You didn’t know?”

Jiang Tea Tea took two more steps back, her mind scrambling.

He was right.

If she stayed close to him too long, sooner or later the cubs in her belly would be exposed through him.

And then Chong Ming—Old Loach—would know.

Sui Xuan Chu stepped forward again. “What are you afraid of? We share a dorm. We’re on the same team. My uncle already investigated your ancestors for eighteen generations.”

Jiang Tea Tea gave a dry laugh. “If he investigated eighteen generations, did he find my biological parents?”

Her contract with the fake heiress included a condition: she had to find the fake heiress’s real parents.

If Chong Ming could find them, she could decide what to do. Meet them. See if they were worth keeping. Fulfill the fake heiress’s wish.

If they weren’t worth it?

She’d still beat them, curse them, and kick them.

Sui Xuan Chu hesitated. “You want to find your biological parents? After the championship ends, I’ll ask him for you.”

Jiang Tea Tea nodded, then warned quickly, “When you go to get the color-change serum, don’t say I asked for it. Your uncle doesn’t like me. I don’t want him starting trouble.”

Sui Xuan Chu threw an arm around her neck casually. “Roommate, you’re underestimating him. He’s a hundred and fifty years old. In his eyes, you’re just an excellent little cub.”

He snorted. “He doesn’t have time to dislike you. Stop adding drama to your life. He’s busy. These past two weeks, he hasn’t even been watching us.”

Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes widened. “He hasn’t been monitoring us?”

“No.” Sui Xuan Chu nodded. “He went back to capital planet to handle emergency state affairs.”

Jiang Tea Tea finally understood why the last couple of weeks had been so comfortable. It hadn’t felt like Chong Ming’s style at all.

Sui Xuan Chu waved a hand, cutting her off before she could say more. “Enough. Tomorrow’s the third round. We don’t know the rules yet. Let’s eat one last big meal and sort the loot.”

“Fine,” Jiang Tea Tea said. “Let’s go.”

The eight of them ate like kings. Other people went into the field training and lost a ton of weight.

Their group didn’t. Everyone but Jiang Tea Tea had gotten visibly rounder.

They didn’t even make it to the next day.

That same night, before midnight, they were extracted from the M31-1137 star system.

On the transport ship, their lightbrains, storage buttons, and all loot were confiscated. They kept only their combat uniforms—nothing else, no weapons.

At three in the morning, the ship landed on a pitch-black planet. The hatch opened, and a wave of heat slammed into their faces.

A broadcast crackled to life from the instructor team.

“Dear classmates, little darlings—welcome to Hot Sand Star.”

“Hot Sand Star stays between twenty-five and sixty degrees year-round.”

“Eighty percent desert. Twenty percent ocean.”

“The third round rules: hold your soft red blade. Hunt other cadets in squads.”

“One cadet eliminated equals one point.”

“Eliminate ten cadets and you can request clean water and food from the instructor team.”

“The squad that lasts to the end with the fewest casualties gains ten thousand points per person and ten thousand squad points.”

“There are no instructor teams participating this round. Only cadets.”

“But your activity range is not the whole planet. It is a thousand-li radius centered on your landing location.”

“Do not cross the boundary. Cross it and you won’t just be disqualified—you’ll also get beaten by the instructor team.”

“And one more thing.”

“As a special reminder, to keep you inside the boundary, we’ve added one hundred thousand extra people outside the activity zone. They’ll be waiting with sticks and iron rods. Step out of bounds and they’ll beat you back in.”