“Are you ready?” the deep brown medium-grade Zerg asked.
His long, scaled tail was coiled behind him, twisted into a tense, strained knot.
A few small cycles ago, the energy planet Ja had presented a scene of general busyness and health. As he gradually grew accustomed to managing the entire planet, Selin had not been in such a state of nervous tension for a long time.
The most difficult period he and his Short-wing companions had ever experienced was when they first arrived on Ja. This planet was both a place of sorrow that had left them psychologically scarred and a brand-new starting point.
Recently, a human carrying an authorization permit from the Grey-wing tribe had built a small Information Nest on Ja.
This was truly a monumental rarity.
All the surface residents were whispering, filled with curiosity about this change. For a long time, Ja had been completely shielded from the information sphere, forbidden from connecting to any form of the Inner Ring Network, and lacking any channels for deep-space communication. Whenever the Short-wings wanted to contact the Core-wings far across the galaxy, their communications had to detour through the satellite garrison base and use the lines provided by the Armed-grade Zerg.
The arrival of the human changed everything.
As the right-hand man of the Black Core-wing, Selin roughly knew that his tribal leader had brought a human back from Kamlan and later took him to the Grey-wing core star system. But he hadn't expected the other party to return to Ja first, leading a large group of Armed-grade Zerg to land on the surface.
For a moment, Selin had even thought that Sa had had a falling out with the hidden owner of the energy planet, and the other party had sent people to raid their home.
That was until the human gently stated his purpose.
He wanted to set Ja as a relay point to establish a complete Information Nest and deep-space communication system.
This proposal was truly... wonderful!
This directly resulted in the communication frequency between him and Xiao soaring steadily. Previously, the act of borrowing a phone from the satellite garrison base had greatly hindered the efficiency and quality of their communication. Most content sent through military facilities had to be filtered, and might even be organized and archived.
The establishment of the small Information Nest made such concerns a thing of the past. After being isolated for long years, the Zerg living on Ja could finally communicate freely with the outside world.
Consequently, Selin couldn't help himself; after finishing work, he spent a long time entwining tails with Xiao via holographic video.
The other was in the distant core star system and had no intention of returning in the short term.
The course "How to Get Along with a Partner/Love Interest" was essentially a failing grade for all Zerg, as they were completely in the dark. They had occupied the position of marauders for too long. In the eyes of most females, a male was no different from an exotic beast's pincer or an energy stone—something to be seized.
Whoever had the harder fist got the new toy; whoever had the harder fist possessed more property.
Sa was indeed different, but Sa’s methods were simply impossible for an ordinary Zerg to emulate. The prerequisite for the Black Core-wing being able to do as he pleased and crush any opposition was that just a few small cycles after entering adulthood, he had personally ripped the head off the previous King of Angon.
In all fairness, this Short-wing truly couldn't do that—if their combat power were even slightly stronger, they wouldn't have been beaten so miserably at the beginning.
But all of that was history now.
The studious Short-wing now had a tutor.
“Humans—normal humans do not treat their partners as property.”
The young man pushed up a pair of glasses he had found from somewhere. Recently, the frequent calibration of the small Information Nest had greatly increased the strain on his eyes, forcing him to take temporary protective measures.
His nurturer quite liked these blue eyes.
Even across a vast distance, even when facing an image composed of a multitude of light particles, when he held Clark and softly whispered certain requests, the other would still lose himself slightly under that gentle gaze before awkwardly agreeing to those conditions that were part-spoiled brat and part-supplication.
Neither love nor romance was a war.
But managing them was.
Most who indulged in fantasy often pinned their hopes on a single-minded, unadulterated, sacrificial kind of love. They assumed they had obtained some sort of emotional devotion that asked no questions and sought no reward, hoping the other would view them as the meaning of life, causing the world to tilt in their favor.
In reality, many female beasts would occasionally devour their own cubs when food was scarce, and there were countless parents in this world who lacked affection for their offspring. If even the deepest blood ties struggled to maintain this reward-free, pure love, how could one easily pin such fantasies on an outsider?
If the Sub-King merely regarded him as a substitute for a larva, or if Arthur were simply attracted to the overly affluent environment he grew up in, they would not have reached the point of being indispensable to one another.
—Though they still had a slight disagreement regarding the nature of being "indispensable."
Maintaining an emotion required long-term, two-way effort, rather than one-sided wishful thinking.
“A partner is an independent individual.”
Tapping the light screen as if tapping a blackboard to highlight a key point, Arthur faced Selin with a smile. A social powerhouse like him had no trouble making friends; after a few work-related exchanges, he had become well-acquainted with his new Zerg friend, the current proxy manager of the energy planet.
“You need to clearly understand what the other person truly wants, rather than stuffing everything you think is good down their throat.”
“I understand that there are gaps in physiology, status, and resources between females and males.”
The young man who had grown up among the Zerg possessed both the perspective of a bystander and the lived experience of an insider. “The casual affection of a superior can easily bring disaster to an inferior.”
“If the Zerg you like is hiding in a far-off place and is unwilling to return, it means he is afraid. Of course, it’s also possible he wants to stay by his friends’ side and do some work he enjoys—not all of his actions must revolve around you.”
These words were somewhat blunt, but the deep brown female Zerg listened very seriously.
“He likes working. When I talk to him about work, he is at his happiest.”
“Work is related to the improvement of social status and the realization of self-worth.”
The blue-eyed youth once again circled a keyword on the light screen. “What he likes might not just be the work itself. Many males, given the conditions, also want to become independent individuals—Zerg who have value and can successfully complete challenges and tasks.”
In fact, Arthur remembered the male Zerg Selin mentioned. The light brown little male spent all day happily sticking to Gera’s side, getting along famously with every new member who joined. In a work environment, the other hadn't shown the depression or maladjustment to a new environment that the Short-wing had worried about; instead, he was like a happy little buzzing cannonball.
“Instead of chasing the other party for a response, you first need to figure out what he wants,” the human said gently.
After that, the deep brown female Zerg thought alone for a long time. He scribbled and sketched on that document that might become a law in the future, preserving the traces of every revision, and then sent it to Xiao.
He wanted to try giving the other a future where he no longer had to be afraid.
A cornerstone of rights.
Bringing time back to the present.
The deep brown female’s scaled tail tightened due to nervousness and fear. Everything else had been set aside for the calibration and adjustment of the small Information Nest.
“Is it ready?” he asked again.
The human’s face was filled with solemnity as he adjusted the terminal at a speed that was hard to discern.
The act of connecting the Great Information Nest with the remnant model of Fahner was unprecedented, but the core star system of the Grey-wing tribe was embroiled in conflict, and the situation had become extremely critical.
A moment ago, Gera had sent a request, hoping to find some extra help. The youth had gained a brand-new understanding of his friend’s penchant for dangerous operations.
The garrison at Kamlan had not intended to agree to this proposal. Their wariness toward the Zerg was as strong as their wariness toward the Empire. Even for a Core-gene species that had long supplied stellar core energy, the condition of using the remnant model was too far removed from reality. To them, the exuviae was like a shadow of the past; the garrison neither wanted to attract too much attention nor did they want the Zerg to use it for something nefarious.
That was until the consequences of the Akashic Resonance affected the Star Graveyard.
The first-generation starship, awakened for a fleeting moment, cast a distant glance along the rift, causing both the Great Information Nest and the Kamlan model to shriek simultaneously. All those of the same origin were affected.
Fine vibrations spread in every direction like spider silk.
“A new Akashic Rift is about to collapse.”
Arthur’s expression was grave as he spoke with his companion. “The Fourth Quadrant isn't too far from Kamlan, and it’s not out of reach from human territory either.”
“We all live on the old site—or rather, the remains—of the Golden Crow. Everyone knows what that means.”
“I need authorization to use the remnant model.”
However, the subsequent connection process was quite difficult. Both Arthur and Gera were skilled at operating mechanisms like Information Nests or the Data Firmament, but Ja was not stable as a relay point, and the data units of humans and Zerg were not compatible.
To build the River of Time, the Data Firmament had once undergone a unified calibration of language and units, with transcribable versions stored in the database at all times. Right now, they didn't have that luxury.
“I’m a little scared,” said the light brown little male Zerg, who was working hard to keep up with Gera’s pace.
He maintained communication with Selin, whispering softly while his movements remained fast and his hands did not tremble.
“Fighting has broken out outside. The Pedipalp-grade have just charged into the habitat star system.”
Xiao had not been present during the Grey-wing Schism, so this was the second time he had faced war directly—the first time being when the Short-wing tribe was destroyed.
“There are many sounds of artillery fire. The Great Information Nest is vibrating.”
“I’m actually very scared.”
At such a moment, this male, who had seemingly regained his cheerful and lively demeanor, finally showed some signs of trepidation, instinctively leaning toward the Zerg he loved.
Their small tribe had been destroyed in the fires of war; many eggs and larvae had been crushed. The older, deep brown female Zerg had held him tightly in his arms, hiding him beneath his body.
The entire scene was filled with a terrifying, flowing red and grotesque, piercing screams.
On the journey being sold to Ja, all the Short-wings had suffered many injuries. In such an environment, it was especially difficult for males to survive. Several times, Xiao had almost been snatched away by marauder females to be subjected to violence.
Selin protected him.
And paid the price in blood.
Every time the female Zerg secretly fed him, he tasted the flavor of dried or wet blood in the food crumbs, mixed with the meager scraps—a taste he would never forget. It caused every frame of his memories to be soaked in a rusted scent.
Meanwhile, Selin had gone hungry for almost the entire journey. Marauders generally believed that defeated tribes didn't need to waste food; getting even a little bit to eat was harder than climbing to the heavens.
The last image before he was taken by Katla was of the deep brown medium-grade Zerg falling to the ground, his chest torn open, revealing a beating heart.
That was a scene he never dared to recall again.
A segment of memory seemed to have vanished afterward, as if his body had automatically sealed it away—he roughly understood that Gera had done something, simply to protect him from being hurt repeatedly.
“I like you.”
The male Zerg spoke softly.
Gera had told him not to run away, to think clearly about his own heart.
Until now, stripping away everything else, discarding all perceptions, ideological differences, and the acquired differences in social status, he still liked the other very much. From the first moment he saw him, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he liked this deep brown female Zerg immensely.
Just as the other had learned to treat him as a companion, learned to let him go to a very, very distant star system to work, and learned to send him documents representing rules and power to ask for his opinion.
Amidst the error sounds of the Great Information Nest, amidst the rumbling sounds of artillery fire, and amidst the joyful voice of the human who suddenly knocked over his chair and shouted "Connection successful," the light brown male gave his answer.
They were still a pair of tiny, ordinary, foolish Zerg in the torrent of fate, who had never changed their original thoughts.
“I like you very, very much.”
***
