The surface technology of Ja was remarkably primitive. Aside from the strict control exerted by the high-ranking Core-seed swarms, part of the reason could be attributed to the instability of the Starcore energy mines.
Akasha Rifts were more volatile and explosive than any other energy form. At the slightest provocation, they would collapse or compress. Any equipment powered by fossil fuels, new compressed fuels, refined energy stones, or electricity simply could not get close. Even the starports and nesting zones had to be built on the far side of the planet.
It was as if every Zerg was walking atop a massive nuclear reactor.
Compared to humans, the Zerg at least possessed physical advantages. Everyone mined with their bare hands, but these rugged neighbors had teeth and claws so sharp it was as if they were digging through dirt and stone with a speed hack enabled.
In a twenty-four-hour day, a human laborer could mine less than half a *ju* of raw ore. The environment where this ore grew was lethally hard, and the loss rate during processing was high; after refining, it yielded only a tiny amount of low-grade energy stone.
The Zerg were different. An adult mid-tier worker drone could dig out four to five *ju* of raw ore a day—a yield nearly eight to ten times that of a human.
Furthermore, the Zerg had high resistance buffs. They didn't have to worry about encountering associated xenogeneic contamination while digging, nor did they risk respiratory diseases. If you put a Zerg and xenogeneic contaminants together, it was hard to say who would end up devouring whom.
In the early days of human mining, the sources of xenogeneic contamination had not yet been sealed. The risk of pollution was dozens of times higher than it was now. Tragedies were common, where hundreds of miners would descend into a shaft in the morning, only for hundreds of mutants to crawl out in the evening.
The "Hound" squads of the Mappuz Academy of Sciences eventually grew so weary of slaughtering mutants that they simply wiped out entire mining sectors, nest and all. Once cleaned, they would ship in a new batch of laborers to continue extraction. This led to the "Mad Dogs" nickname becoming infamous throughout the galaxy.
Sarkti often felt that it was truly no easy feat for the human species to have stumbled and swayed their way to the present day.
The Zerg’s vibe was entirely different.
Most residents of the energy planet could finish a day of mining and still have the energy to come to Angon to watch a brawl. Though this meager entertainment was arguably worse than none at all, it at least proved that the Zerg residents were all physically robust and brimming with martial spirit.
Lately, while walking the streets of the nesting zone, stranger drones would often buzz in greeting to the black Core-seed.
Sarkti’s record of taking down four Core-seeds within a single small cycle had spread rapidly among the surface residents. This left the inhabitants of Ja both curious and bewildered by this aggressive outsider. They felt an indescribable sense of conflict when shelling out energy stones to watch his matches—the fights between Core-seeds were exhilarating, but the black female Zerg always showed mercy, sparing his opponents once they thoroughly surrendered.
It happened every single time.
Consequently, the audience’s emotions were on a perpetual roller coaster, stuck in an infinite loop of "Ooooh, kill him! Kill him!" followed by "I'll gnaw on your ancestor's skull, why didn't you take his head?!"
But the next time he fought, they couldn't resist watching again. At first, the audience would hiss and curse, but eventually, it turned into "I knew it" and "Just as expected."
To push a Zerg to an emotional peak and then force them to hold it back—it was an absurd form of psychological edging.
After being "edged" too many times, the residents of the energy planet finally grew numb. They reached a conclusion: this was likely just the guy's unique style. Forget it, they might as well get used to it.
The outsider’s way of doing things revealed eccentricities at every turn. He seemed to be on good terms with everyone; both new and old black-market traders were more than happy to do business with him.
The white male Zerg and several short-winged drones from the defeated swarms followed the Core-seed like a cluster of tails. The residents of Ja had initially sneered at this ragtag combination, but the power of habit was terrifying. Once they accepted the setup, if they didn't see that sub-adult male by Sarkti’s side for once, the neighbors would casually ask, "Where’s your little mate today?"
A few Zerg hadn't been on good terms with the black female at first, but after receiving a beating, their "friendship" was essentially repaired.
One female drone, who had previously charged into the arena to scrap with the Core-seed, underwent a bizarre transformation from hater to fan after experiencing his martial prowess and watching a few more of his matches. When she saw Sarkti on the street, she awkwardly waved a foreleg at him.
Sarkti: "???"
*The social dynamics of you Zerg are truly baffling.*
The scene of a robust female charging over to give a shy, hesitant greeting immediately made his non-existent skin crawl. After getting used to being close with Gera, it had been a long time since he’d felt that "ants-crawling-all-over-the-body" allergic sensation.
Returning to the nest, he caught the familiar sweet scent in the air and caught the male Zerg who leaped lightly toward him.
Previously, he hadn't understood what pleasure there was in Zerg who were close to each other grooming wings or licking scales, but he understood now.
It was like petting a cat—a hallmark of a great civilization, bringing pure joy.
"Did Serlin bring you back?"
Sitting down anywhere, he watched as Gera circled him in a routine inspection. Finding no new wounds today, the other happily fluttered his wings.
"They just went back to the ship."
While answering, Gera brought over a large pile of xenogeneic beast claws. Sarkti had recently had the worker drone named Kai procure various species of beasts from the black market, seemingly wanting to test which ones the male preferred to eat.
Gera thought every single one was delicious.
"The short-winged ones told me some things about their swarm." Gera used a tool to crack the beast's shell, patiently separating the meat bit by bit. "Serlin told many stories about caring for larvae. The short-winged species don't have the habit of abandoning larvae; the entire swarm raises the young who have lost their kin together."
A hint of envy appeared on the white male's face as he handed a piece of meat on a whole shell to the Core-seed.
"He said his sub-adult male is named Xiao. During their first meeting, he fed him a spoonful of mashed beast eyeballs, and the little one has been stuck to him ever since."
Sarkti had never asked about the other's past.
He couldn't explain his own origins, and Gera’s past experiences didn't seem like they would be pleasant memories.
However, the way Gera masked his dejection set off alarms in Sarkti's thick nerves. His male needed a little extra comfort.
So, he reached out and pulled Gera into his arms, speaking after a moment of deliberation.
"Do you mind telling me about your past?"
"Are you challenging Katla just to save that male Zerg?"
At the same time, Gera suddenly asked a question, their voices overlapping.
Sarkti signaled for the other to speak first. The male pressed himself tightly against the black high-ranking Zerg, his expression carrying a faint confusion, as if he had encountered something he couldn't understand.
"Why?"
"You don't know him, and you didn't even know Serlin and the others before. Why would you challenge the victor of the Great Sacrificial Grounds for a stranger?"
"That's not an easy question to answer."
The Core-seed thought seriously; he didn't want to brush his companion off.
"I'm not some selfless saint. I have my own goals in what I do. You see, I don't give Serlin and the others help for free, even if they are indeed worthy of sympathy. But tragic things happen in this universe every moment. I am only one per—cough, Zerg. I can't save every victim who gets hurt."
The differences in thinking and the subtle nuances of language made this conversation more taxing than casual chatter.
But the white male curled up in his arms and listened intently, so Sarkti tried his best to explain in a way the other could understand.
"Part of the reason for challenging Katla is that I want to consolidate the surface forces of Ja as quickly as possible."
"Besides that, a... Zerg once reminded me to restrain my behavior. He said that a ruler—well, a guide—should strive to create a society where even the weak can survive. Whether a race has entered civilization should not be measured by the lives of those at the top, but by the living conditions of the weakest at the very bottom."
"I don't understand." Gera looked even more confused, his voice very soft. "What benefit does that bring you? You'll only keep getting hurt and dragging along a lot of dead weight."
He reached out to gently stroke those golden-brown eyes. The Core-seed remained motionless, letting him touch.
"You're already getting hurt. If it weren't for me, for Serlin, for Kata, you could go wherever you wanted."
"I only want to stay on the energy planet."
Sarkti ruthlessly pinched the other's white broken tail, making the male let out a little squeak. Sarkti snorted with a laugh. "Don't think so highly of me. Remember when we first met, that time you crawled out of the healing pod—"
"The moment you first mentioned the energy planet, I was thinking about putting this planet in my pocket."
The black scaled tail coiled around the male, tickling him until Gera couldn't help but let out a soft, pleading buzz before Sarkti let him go.
The black worker drone weighed the male in his arms as if settling an account—good, he’d gotten heavier lately. He spoke bluntly: "Alright, your turn."
The golden-brown eyes gazed warmly at the other. "Willing to talk? Anything you want to chat about—it can be those bastards from your swarm, or any strange thing you feel like telling me."
Gera looked at him for a while, then reached out to hug the Core-seed, holding one of the female's hands.
"They left me behind during the migration," he said softly.
"On a planet near the Kamlan Sector. All my kin, my relatives, and the brothers who hatched with me... after a brief rest, they set out again. They didn't take me with them."
Sarkti automatically prepared a warm blanket and wrapped the other in his arms.
If Gera was willing to speak, he would listen.
"There were many human architectural ruins on that abandoned planet." The male gripped Sarkti’s hand, slowly tracing each finger, eventually placing the hand against the side of his neck, close to his cheek. "The Kamlan Sector was too heavily saturated by xenogeneic contamination sources. Like humans, we don't like going near there. Males don't have as high a resistance as females; it's hard to survive without finding proper food."
"There was no food anywhere. I was starving, so I ran into the human ruins."
The Kamlan Sector was like a ghost realm to humans. Sarkti had read too many records; he knew the history of Kamlan better than anyone.
In the year 087 of the Federal Calendar, the 18th Xenogeneic Tide invasion broke out in the Kamlan Sector. The Second Army, controlled by the Mappuz Academy of Sciences, collaborated with the Third Army to backstab the Golden Crow Fleet—the ace of the Fifth Army stationed outside the human-habitable sectors.
Except for the fleet commander, the entire Fifth Army was killed in action. Nearby small Akasha Rifts were torn open simultaneously, the border defenses collapsed completely, and xenogeneic contamination surged into the entire interior of the sector.
For about two hundred years after that, Kamlan became a forbidden zone for humanity.
In a sense, it was like the Pompeii of the space age. Like the Old Earth that had vanished into the cosmos, it became a homeland the surviving humans could never return to—a ghost drifting in the sea of stars.
But Gera didn't know any of this.
"There was a very large nest—a house—that was still fairly well-preserved. It contained many audio-visual records."
"I found water I could drink, and some plants I could eat. Then, I watched all of the humans' videos," Gera said softly. "So many storage screens. Until the remaining energy ran out, I just kept watching and watching."
He leaned in as if to kiss the other's fingers; Sarkti could almost feel those slightly quivering lips.
"At first, I couldn't tell the difference. Later, I realized some videos were stories humans imagined, while others were real. I practically slept in those rooms. Once the storage screens were turned off, the whole planet would become very quiet."
"So quiet that I was the only one left."
"I watched those stories about humans thousands of times."
"Humans are so strange. They mentioned things called 'love' and 'hope'—things I had never seen. Even now, I can't understand why humans would choose death for things other than food and survival."
He said, "I don't understand."
Sarkti finally understood why the other could speak the human Common Tongue.
While he hadn't known, this white male Zerg had been all alone on a silent, alien planet, eating contaminated turf and huddling in those tomb-like human ruins, watching every movie and record he could find tens of thousands of times.
"A passing scavenger ship found me while they were scouring the planet."
The white male smiled. "The moment I was discovered, I feared my own kind just as much as I feared humans."
Sensing the Core-seed’s current gentle indulgence toward him, he quietly kissed the other's fingertip. Then, as if it were an accidental touch, he buried his head in the other's chest.
"I saw a human in one of the recordings. He also had a pair of golden-brown eyes."
The male let out a buzzing sound. When he lifted his head again, his pale eyes looked misty.
"It has been a long time since any humans appeared in Kamlan. In a human record from hundreds of years ago, I saw a pair of eyes similar to yours."
Gera’s voice was very low, like fresh snow or crushed ice that would break at the slightest touch of the wind.
"When I actually met you, I couldn't help but think... what beautiful eyes."
"They are as beautiful as a solar eclipse."
***
