The male buried himself deep within the blankets. Sarkadi found this sudden shy reaction baffling; he considered reaching out to haul the other bug out, but then remembered that when a cat is stressed, it’s best to let it calm down in its own corner for a while.
After a moment, the male poked half his head out from the blanket, his four glittering eyes stealing a glance at the Core Seed.
Sarkadi almost thought his question had inadvertently violated some obscure Zerg taboo.
Just as he was about to add, "It’s fine if you don’t want to say," the male spoke, letting out a very low, soft drone.
"Roxanne."
He uttered a similar-sounding syllable, then quickly repeated it at a slightly higher volume. "Roxanne."
Even with nerves as thick as Sarkadi’s, he knew better than to comment that it sounded like a girl’s name. Besides, the male was merely producing a phonetic approximation; it clearly wasn't the same thing as the Human Common Tongue.
In the end, he managed a dry, "It’s a good name."
Gera—Roxanne—couldn't help but emit a few happy hums. Like a small beast, he stuffed his head under Sarkadi’s hand, his entire being radiating joy. He confirmed again in a small voice, "Aren't you going to call me by my name?"
Sarkadi finally let out a laugh. He deliberately ignored the request until the male began to push at him urgently. Only then did he draw out the syllables: "Rox—anne."
The buzzing grew louder instantly. To Sarkadi's surprise, the white male curled up all at once, and every visible part of his body flushed pink. Against the backdrop of his albinism-related genetic defect, the change was particularly striking.
"Say it again," the male pleaded softly, displaying the clinginess of a cat showing its belly. His small wings fluttered *patter-patter* as he nuzzled back and forth in the nest. "Gera is fine too, whichever you like. Just call me again."
"Roxanne," the Core Seed said with a chuckle, watching the other bug burrow against him like a giant moth, as if he were a massive clump of catnip. "Did your kin act like this when they called your name?"
"My kin didn't know I was a genetically defective egg."
The male’s wings drooped, and Sarkadi felt his happiness dim.
"They hoped all the eggs would be healthy, so they bestowed Core Seed names upon them. You know, when we are about to hatch, we can hear everything around us. But I couldn't bite through my shell. I was stuck inside for a long time, unable to crawl out."
"My clutch-mates who hatched with me trampled me down. Just before I died, my kin turned over the empty shells and found me."
The Core Seed’s mental fluctuations were like a calm sea; whether it was a storm of pain or waves of joy, everything eventually sank into a quiet depth. This made Roxanne suddenly less afraid to show his flaws.
The Zerg generally believed that disabled bugs had no survival value. In eras of resource scarcity, elder kin would even consume the eggs they had laid. Those with genetic defects were destined from birth to not survive for long.
However, Sarkadi was different. This strange female seemed to believe that even weak creatures could live.
"Then they noticed I was white, and my wings were twisted into a strange shape."
"So, they turned and left."
After that, he had followed behind the swarm that would not accept him, enduring a long and difficult time.
The male’s scaled tail curled and uncurled.
The female’s prolonged silence began to worry him, fearing that he, too, could not accept such a candidate for a mate. He hoped Sarkadi would offer a casual tease as usual, or perhaps reach out to pat his head.
In the next second, his wish was granted.
The Core Seed’s fingers gently combed through the white, stunted wings, his aura softening.
It was a very intimate gesture.
But the former human, possessing zero self-awareness as a "female," didn't realize the significance. The male, having grown accustomed to the other's thick-headedness, simply leaned in. They huddled together like two outcasts of their respective species—two black sheep unapproachable by their own kind.
"In an ancient language from the Old Earth of the humans, there is a word with a similar pronunciation to your name. It means 'shining little star'."
Sarkadi’s voice was deep. The male’s wings were soft and limp, feeling like smooth silk as they trembled slightly under his fingers.
He let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
"You are a pure white, very beautiful, little star."
***
Over the next few days, the worker females around Angon all came to know that a very formidable female had arrived at the Great Sacrificial Grounds, and this stranger was accompanied by a scrawny male.
Though the pair was bizarre and tempted some bugs to act on their impulses, the bloody, intimidating display of the Core Seed’s first match was enough to make those with ill intentions check their steps.
The elderly administrator bug was named Kata. Sarkadi seriously suspected it was a transliteration of "Click."
The names of low-to-mid-tier worker females were very casual, mostly consisting of onomatopoeia. It resulted in Sarkadi meeting other females working in Angon every day, where their low-pitched emotional greetings sounded like a string of "Kala," "Kata," "Kecha," and "Peng."
"Once every three days." The black female sat sprawled on a stone block, his rogue-like "say what you want" attitude making Kata’s antennae twitch with rage. "I’ll come to Angon every day to watch the others train, but I’m only fighting once every three days."
"Do you think the Great Sacrificial Grounds is a trading nest?! You want to watch training too?!" Kata’s legs were nearly crawling onto the desk; he looked ready to smash the table over this shameless robber’s skull to see what was inside. "Do you think Angon is my personal property? That I can just wave my antennae and grant you a paid vacation?!"
"The Great Sacrificial Grounds, like this entire planet, is the private property of the Energy Mine Lord! Not to mention, beneath him is another High Core Seed—a victor who has never known defeat!"
"Don't make yourself too conspicuous," the elder worker female warned. "You don't want to offend the master of the Energy Planet or the victor of the Great Sacrificial Grounds. I'm only giving you this advice because you're looking after that unlucky male."
"That undefeated Core Seed is a violent beast who loves to plunder males. He’s nothing like the one you killed the other day."
"What’s his name?" Sarkadi asked, leaning lazily against the wall, though his golden-brown eyes were fixed on Kata. "This victor you mentioned."
"Katra," the old worker female huffed irritably. "If you get matched against him, stop the match and withdraw immediately. You’ve only just entered adulthood, haven't you? He is a high-ranking Core Seed in his prime, fully matured. If you face him, you’ll only suffer a miserable defeat."
"I don't plan on facing him for now," the black female said, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.
Kata was momentarily choked up by the response, then began swatting at Sarkadi’s head with a light-screen. "Not later, either!"
To Kata, Sarkadi looked more and more like a giant piece of trash. That white male must have spilled his brains out of his skull to follow such a partner.
"Are you even listening to me?! If you die, that sub-adult male following you will be in deep trouble. Katra has always treated males as disposable playthings."
"You care a lot about Gera."
In front of other Zerg, Sarkadi still referred to Roxanne as "Gera" to avoid trouble. After all, the male had an actual existing kin-group, and they sounded like a hassle.
"Why? Your concern for him exceeds that of a typical stranger. You’ve been worried about him since the first time we met," he asked, his gaze lingering on Kata.
The administrator froze instantly, then let out a furious hiss. The light-screen banged against Sarkadi’s head repeatedly. "Get out! Get out of my nest! Go die wherever you please!"
Sarkadi turned and left, even swiping a handful of beast eyeballs from the desk to snack on like hard candies.
Once he had left the administrator’s curses far behind, the black Core Seed turned toward the starport.
Roxanne spent most of the day in the nest, or Sarkadi would drop him off at the ship before heading out. Either way, the ship’s safety rating was much higher than the burrow's.
Kata was wrong about one thing: Sarkadi craved combat experience, but his time was indeed limited. Fighting once every three days was a necessity.
On the raider ship, everything except the modified weapons had been sold off.
He needed free time to gather resources and upgrade his rickety little boat. It was unwise not to leave a way out; a ship ready to launch at a moment's notice was a necessity for him and Roxanne.
He also needed time to prowl the streets and alleys to familiarize himself with every corner of the planet.
Humans had a hoarding problem; in Sarkadi’s case, it had manifested as a weapon-hoarding disorder.
Whenever firepower was insufficient, he felt like something was missing. His professional habits made him want to turn the entire ship into an iron fortress as quickly as possible—the kind where you could pluck a weapon off the wall at every step.
Making money, repairing the ship, and being a street urchin were all essential, filling his already tight schedule to the brim.
He found his ship at the starport and boarded the cramped, shabby thing. The moment the hatch opened, the white male dove into his arms like a puppy.
Gera—or rather, Roxanne—wasn't afraid of him at all now.
When the male looked up, his forehead only reached the other’s shoulder.
Perhaps because he had gorged himself during his post-pupation growth spurt, Sarkadi’s High Core Seed body was much taller and more powerful than an average female's.
With the mindset of "the child shouldn't suffer," Sarkadi stuffed food into his and Roxanne’s mouths whenever he had a spare moment. The male had already put on some weight under his care.
On this point, Zerg and human aesthetics strangely aligned: robust was always better; being too thin made one easy to cull.
Thus, the moment they met, Sarkadi caught the buzzing little projectile with one hand and shoved a large bag of beast eyeballs into his grasp.
"Want to crunch on some eyeballs?" he asked.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 罗克珊 | Roxanne | The male's true name. |
| 喀特拉 | Katra | The undefeated champion at the Great Sacrificial Grounds. |
| 卡塔 | Kata | The elderly worker female administrator; name sounds like "click." |
| 异兽眼珠 | Beast eyeballs | A snack/food item derived from alien beasts. |
| 武器囤积症 | Weapon-hoarding disorder | Sarkadi's compulsion to collect and store weapons. |
| 亚成年 | Sub-adult | A developmental stage for Zerg. |
| 能源矿主 | Energy Mine Lord | The owner/ruler of the planet. |
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