The black Core-gene species, whose reputation had likely been dragged through the mud along with his entire race, was training his subordinates in Angon as usual when he was caught red-handed by a squad of hurried Armed species.
That group of Armed females had hauled his precious treasure all the way from the starport to the Great Sacrificial Ground.
The leader was tall and powerful, possessing gray wings similar to Clark’s, though much darker in hue. Its face was a mask of gloom; when it looked at Sarkdi, it was with the expression of a housewife looking at an insurance salesman who had just knocked on her door.
This was quite unexpected for the Core species.
He had traded barbs with Clark because he knew the high-ranking species wouldn't be provoked by trifles, but he hadn't actually expected the other to return his Core Power Furnace. Theoretically, for contraband seized by customs, it was considered a light touch if they didn't fine him on top of the confiscation.
Yet, the other party had not only returned it but provided door-to-door delivery.
Sarkdi made a few mental notes in his ledger, adding "unorthodox" and "dangerous opportunist" to Clark’s profile. That silver-gray female had a much more contrasting personality than he appeared; it was truly interesting.
The white male in Angon was also disturbed by the commotion and hurried to the training grounds. Previously, the Armed species had left most others with an impression of terror and ferocity. Gera, fearing something had happened, instinctively rushed to the scene.
Instead, he found his prospective partner shaking hands and chatting amiably with the Armed species. The Armed female being held looked as if it wanted to wrench its arm away immediately and scrub its hands raw; its expression resembled a Short-winged species on the verge of an outburst, only held back by the realization that it couldn't strike a client.
Hearing the movement, Sarkdi turned his head and smiled at his companion.
"Clark sent us something," he explained to the somewhat uneasy male.
The Armed female, hearing him address its superior by name, looked ready to explode. It seemed to have a visual premonition of twisting the guy's head off right then and there. Without a single word, it led its team away, turning and leaving without even a parting greeting.
"So fierce," the Core species chuckled, watching the group's retreating backs with interest. Their gray wings and tail-whips snapped sharply as they moved.
"What did Clark send?" Gera asked, glancing worriedly at the angrily departing squad of black females before turning his gaze back to the lazily smiling Sarkdi.
But Sarkdi only shook his head, gesturing for the other nearby insects to transport the heavily covered object underground.
"It’s a secret," the Core species said. He reached out to cover the eyes of the male who still wanted to peek, pulling Gera close. His black scaled tail wrapped around the other rogueishly, preventing the male from turning back.
"No looking," he said with feigned sternness.
Then, he heard a few hums.
Standing not far away were two Short-winged species—Selin and Xiao. One looked embarrassed, the other frightened.
Gera had run to the training ground upon hearing the news, and Xiao, who had been following him like a little tail lately, had instinctively followed. Selin, worried about Xiao, had trailed behind him. It was a classic case of "pulling up a radish and bringing the mud with it"—tug on one male, and a whole string follows.
Since starting work, Xiao’s condition had improved significantly. Although he still couldn't handle close contact with other females, Sarkdi had several times seen the light brown little male and Selin curled up together on some vacant platform during off-hours, sunning their wings. The middle-rank female would gently nuzzle the male, their tails entwining very, very lightly. Xiao would look up and stammer something, and the female would respond in a low voice from time to time.
From a sociologist's perspective, this was actually quite fascinating.
With Sarkdi himself holding the fort, all females within Angon’s sphere of influence had suddenly learned to be polite to males. Incidents like beatings no longer occurred.
In the beginning, a middle-rank native of Ja had used violence against a male from the purchased defeated tribes. The black Core species had grabbed him by the neck, hauled him to the training ground, and thrashed him until he couldn't crawl back up, nearly ending him permanently.
This caused the "Sea King" rumors—which had started when he challenged Katra—to spread even further: "The victor of Angon is protective not only of his own partner but of everyone else's partners too." This made Sarkdi’s already polarized reputation even more... indescribable.
But bullying had indeed vanished.
As the saying goes, "those below follow the example of those above." When a superior is powerful enough, his—or its—behavior becomes the standard. Whether the others understood it or not, they chose to comply.
Uncontrollable animalistic nature often only manifests against beings weaker than oneself; Sarkdi had seen too much of this in his early years. Initially, he would feel angry, but eventually, he became numb to it—he would just hand out the beatings or arrests as needed, while being careful to set an example by not violating Imperial law.
In the world of the insects, however, there were no laws, only personal conviction—if there was a problem, a fight settled it.
The logic of insects was indeed different from humans. The harder they were beaten, the more it proved the superior's strength, and the more the onlookers were filled with admiration. This made the Core species feel "numb" in a different sense.
However, he was not a "good person" in the traditional sense, nor did he have much desire to respect insect traditions. He only cared about using the fastest method to mold this race—which had once given him such a headache—into a shape that suited his eyes.
Previously, the Short-winged species had been gentle toward males, yet Selin had remained deeply confused by the Core species treating a male as a "companion." It wasn't until Xiao began working in the Information Nest and his spirits visibly lifted that this middle-rank worker female seemed to suddenly have an epiphany. She began following Sarkdi’s lead, slowly teaching the other about work during their time together.
Xiao became a bit happier, even willing to speak more as he worked hard to regain his language skills.
And so, the two of them—one dark brown, one light brown—stood there like two telephone poles. Sarkdi waved his hand, and Selin immediately took Xiao and retreated.
Seeing the item being hauled away and realizing the other truly didn't intend for him to know yet, Gera stared at the female in silence for a moment. His mental tentacles had been very active lately, crawling everywhere; they loved to stick to Sarkdi, though the other was unaware. Like a cat drawn to catnip, his scent gland would unconsciously capture the female's pheromone scent.
Sarkdi thought the other was unhappy, so he lifted the male up, his folded wings shielding him.
"Don't be angry. It’s a secret for now; I’ll show you later." He twined his tail with Gera’s.
The white male let out a helpless laugh. "Fine. When you're ready to show me, I’ll be there."
Gera realized that many times, the Core species was still unconsciously coaxing him like a companion or a hatchling. While responding softly, his scaled tail twined back around the black tail-whip in response.
Since managing the Information Nest, Gera had become much more composed. Previously, the male had been in a relatively closed environment—one where he wouldn't encounter work or large amounts of information—but his current position had filled that gap at maximum speed.
The Information Nest was the hub of all Ja besides the energy mines. All data converged there, allowing him to observe everything from an outsider's perspective. It wasn't just the female who was groping for a path forward; Gera was also constantly examining himself.
The Core species was moving fast. His goals—toppling Katra, gathering the surface forces of Ja, reaching a cooperation with the high-ranking tribes, and taking the energy star for himself—were becoming reality one by one.
In a certain moment while teaching the group of males around him, Gera suddenly gained a vague understanding of what Sarkdi had meant when he said, "I expect more from you."
"Grinding" became a trend, hitting all surface residents of Ja in a short time. The new master of Angon’s reach was far longer than Katra’s. Katra had sat atop a small mountain of energy stones like a bandit king, content as long as he could happily slaughter and plunder males, never wanting to spend energy managing Angon or the other natives of the energy star.
But Sarkdi was different.
The frequency of the Core species appearing and personally participating in the training grounds was decreasing. He was responsible for leading his core squad, and then letting that squad lead the new recruits. The rules of the Great Sacrificial Ground were overhauled, and internal killing was forbidden.
The functions between groups were clarified and refined once more: the Short-winged species handled internal administration, the males controlled the entire Information Nest, Kai ran around the world handling foreign trade, and the Auger species took on construction duties. Beyond that, the females with high combat power were unified into a combat reserve.
A large number of wandering insects who had lost their families, local low-to-mid-rank gene species, or failed tribes were absorbed into the new collective. Radiating outward from Angon, the social environment of the entire energy star was undergoing a slow transformation.
Sometimes Sarkdi himself thought the Gray-winged species might explode, but surprisingly, those satellite-stationed armed squads had likely received notice from the high-ranking species to turn a blind eye to the commotion below. As long as they weren't hauling dozens of Core Power Furnaces to Ja right in front of their faces, they would at most inspect the transported goods and release them after filing a report to their superiors.
This made Sarkdi suspect that the silver-gray female might be holding a "wait and see" attitude, letting him get away with murder just to see how far they could toss things around.
By the time the first weapons production line and energy stone refining line were established, a few local insects of Ja realized with horror that the controller of the Great Sacrificial Ground was building his own new family—a family not bound by blood or gene rank.
The energy star was its initial nest.
The plains previously cleared by the Auger species were put to great use, presenting a scene of bustling activity.
The default stance of the high-ranking gene tribes confused the residents of Ja. At first, they thought the black Core species was going to oppose the Armed species; later, they felt the two sides had already reached some sort of tacit understanding in private.
In a sense, Clark was a good boss—at least the employee benefits were good, and because he was loose with his hands, the fiscal budget was well-funded. The Gray-winged species' residential star system was not in such a remote area; the energy star was merely the icing on the cake of their industries. Sarkdi even suspected Ja was simply Clark’s private property and had nothing to do with the tribe.
The Core species reported every step, but usually only after the deed was done. Regardless, the Gray-wings wouldn't make him tear down the "illegal constructions," and he could even cry poverty to ask for more sponsorship.
The high-ranking species, who had read Sarkdi’s detailed reports many times, sent a group of Gray-wings to Ja for technical assistance before the refining line was even built, bringing along key construction materials.
"I will take eighty percent." In the image, the female’s gray eyes held a hint of a smile as he tapped the characters in the air, defining the profit distribution.
"Eighty percent is too much. I handle everything every day while you sit in a habitable star system drinking tea." Sarkdi clicked his tongue, crossing his arms. "I’m turning a raw planet into a fortress for you, yet you’re only willing to leak this much reward to a hardworking employee?"
"Ninety percent."
"Fine, fine, eighty percent it is."
He knew when to quit while he was ahead; most of the time, he just bantered out of habit. Twenty percent of the profits from an entire private planetary core energy mine was already staggering. In the Empire, it would be enough to make a finance official have a breakdown. This far exceeded the treatment a mere "employee" deserved.
Sarkdi suspected the insects didn't yet have a concept of this kind of systematized production and trade model. By the time the high-ranking tribes realized what twenty percent profit meant, they might never offer such generous terms again.
The energy mines on Ja were rich, qualifying as a large-scale source; extracting from them for another twenty or thirty Great Cycles wouldn't be a problem. Furthermore, the insects' mining speed was far higher than humans', making the annual output enormous. It was enough to maintain a Red Tai Sui—if he ate sparingly, it would work.
"Stop pretending." Clark let out a scoff and looked up. "You couldn't handle the technical parts yourself; you couldn't build a production line at all. I even had to send a group of tribesmen to help. I’m under a lot of pressure for this too."
"Energy stone refining technology has always been held by the Core tribes; it’s one of our trump cards in cooperation with humans. Sending insects and resources to a barbaric place like Ja has caused me to be impeached more times than in the last ten Great Cycles combined."
"If you dare try any tricks or poach my technical staff, I’ll twist your head off."
"I feel deeply sorry for your predicament." The black Core species was in too good a mood, making his consolation sound very insincere. "But I believe you will be satisfied with the resources harvested next."
High-ranking tribes used energy stones as currency to exchange for different types of weapons, items, and technology. Their technological gap had come too suddenly, and they hadn't found other substitutes with monetary attributes; energy had instead become the most direct and reliable carrier of value.
"Why don't we set up a Time River port on Ja? It would make transporting every shipment easier."
Clark was laughed into anger. "What do you think a Time River port is? That I can just wave my hand and open one at your nest's doorstep?"
"Every Time River port must go through strict negotiations between humans and all high-ranking insect tribes. The entire Gray-winged tribe only has the rights to use two ports, and now you’re asking me for a third."
"You certainly have beautiful dreams."
Such a familiar evaluation. Before their first meeting, Sarkdi had criticized Clark in the same way. Fate was like a boomerang; it always circled back to hit you in the head at the right time.
Sarkdi lamented as much.
But he wasn't in a hurry. One day in the future, he would put a port on Ja to make it convenient to drive the Red Tai Sui straight home.
"Just thinking about it for now. Who knows, maybe it’ll come true one day."
The black Core species flashed a disingenuous smile.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 核心动力炉 | Core Power Furnace | High-tech power source for ships or bases. |
| 离经叛道 | Unorthodox / Rebellious | Used to describe Clark's behavior. |
| 危险投机者 | Dangerous opportunist | Sarkdi's mental label for Clark. |
| 信息巢穴 | Information Nest | The data and intelligence hub managed by Gera. |
| 海王 | Sea King | Slang for a player/womanizer; here used ironically because Sarkdi protects everyone. |
| 鳌种 | Auger species | A type of insect species specialized in construction/digging. |
| 时间河 | Time River | Likely a space-time travel route or wormhole system. |
| 大循环 | Great Cycle | A unit of time measurement for the insect race. |
| 红太岁 | Red Tai Sui | Sarkdi's ship/asset he intends to retrieve. |
| 宜居星域 | Habitable star system | Areas suitable for long-term residence, unlike the mining star Ja. |
