The Zerg generally followed the habit of being active by day and returning to their nests at night.
Compared to the bustle of the daytime, Ja appeared emptier and colder after nightfall. The nests, sprawling from the surface to the underground, were layered one upon another; lifting any single cover would reveal a swarm of crawling insects.
Gela bundled the recently organized information regarding the Core Species' genetic groups and the news of the human starships, sent it to Sarkadi, and then fell into a state of mild, anxious waiting.
After leaving a promise of a "nighttime drive," the other man had plunged headlong into a group meeting with the short-winged species to review his subordinates' performance over the past few days.
Lately, Sarkadi had spent a vast amount of time underground. The refining of energy stones relied entirely on Selin and his companions' supervision. Fortunately, the short-winged bugs were quite reliable and worked exceptionally hard, maintaining the orderly operation of the energy stone industrial chain even under semi-autonomous management.
The Core Species understood the principle that rather than exhausting oneself by overseeing every detail, it was better to train reliable deputies and focus on the big picture while delegating the small stuff. Since he was about to leave Ja, he treated this period as a preliminary drill.
As it turned out, during the first cycle he had locked himself underground, Selin had indeed been quite flustered. The bugs were used to seeking out their leader for everything and having him provide a safety net for whatever they couldn't handle. However, after the Core Species explicitly stated, "I'm busy; handle things according to the previous arrangements and procedures, and don't contact me unless it's something major," the short-winged bugs spent a few days living in a state of panicked chaos.
All the management-level bugs had crowded around Selin, chattering away as they discussed what exactly could be classified as a "major event." It was so hard to guess.
Then, they got used to it.
Whether for humans or Zerg, pressure resistance was like a water-soaked sponge—there was always a bit more to squeeze out if you tried.
In contrast was Kai. This "Chosen One" of workers suddenly felt the mountain pressing down on his head vanish and became instantly hyperactive. He produced several extraordinary maneuvers, and within a few days, he had dragged black market traders into finalizing several large orders for low-to-mid-grade energy stones.
His business partners also fully demonstrated the fierce style of: "As long as the resources are in place, I can get you a whole planet if you want to buy one."
In the flaw of greed, the Zerg and humans were carved from the same mold. If the profit was large enough, they would dare to put anything up for sale.
The armed species' attitude of turning a blind eye to the victors of Angon allowed the keen-witted traders to sniff out business opportunities early on. Thus, it was confirmed: the owner of the energy planet had indeed reached a consensus with this outsider black female Zerg. Furthermore, it wasn't a one-sided jurisdiction, but a partnership of mutual benefit.
Sarkadi first gave Kai a warning to prevent his greed from spreading too far and creating an unmanageable mess. Then, following the stick with a carrot, he praised the effort the other had put in during this period. Facing this combination of discipline and encouragement, the middle species had already learned the art of self-indoctrination, becoming exceptionally excited when his work was recognized.
After finishing the group meeting, the Core Species chatted for a bit with the technical bugs from the grey-winged tribe who were temporarily staying on Ja, mostly regarding how to optimize the production lines later on. The new proposal the other party put forward was immensely expensive, but based on the original energy stone conversion rate, it could potentially increase production by another 0.5 to 1 percent. This figure made his heart skip a beat, and he encouraged the technical bugs to quickly put together a concrete proposal and analysis report.
Most of the day was spent rushing about. Having finally finished handling all the urgent matters, Sarkadi was just about to finish work and return to his nest when he saw Xiao running toward the energy stone refining base, peeking through the main gate.
This male had recovered well; his feelings of trepidation were gradually disappearing, and he was no longer so fearful of everything in the outside world. Usually, when Sarkadi saw him, the other was always with some male companions or huddled with the short-winged group. A situation like today, where he was completely alone, was quite rare.
Thus, Sarkadi greeted him from a distance. "Looking for Selin?" he asked. He remembered that he had grabbed all the short-winged bugs for the review meeting; no wonder this light-brown male had run all the way out here alone.
Xiao was still a bit afraid of him and nodded awkwardly.
Just as the Core Species turned to leave, the male unexpectedly called out to him.
"P-please wait a moment," Xiao said stutteringly, his tail twisting left and right in hesitation. He looked at the black female Zerg who had stopped mid-stride, his entire body emitting an uncontrollable hum of nervousness and fear.
Then, Sarkadi saw the other take a deep breath, hold it, and say in a very loud voice—much louder than usual—at a rapid pace: "Thank you!"
The Core Species was startled.
When Xiao usually spoke to anyone, it was like a kitten mewling. When he was with Gela, he hardly spoke the Common Tongue at all, sticking to the other like glue and humming every day. This sudden, high-volume expression of gratitude momentarily stunned them both.
The male himself seemed frightened by his own outburst.
"You're welcome?" Sarkadi instinctively gave a polite reply, not immediately understanding what the other was thanking him for.
"Selin and Gela told me... it was you who saved me from Ka... Katra." At the mention of that name, the male still flinched and trembled. "And another bug named Kata. You caught me, and you defeated Ka... defeated that terrifying bug."
"Gela said you were badly injured because of that," Xiao said softly. His tail trembled, coiling tightly around his leg. "Injured to save me, to save the short-winged tribe."
"He said you are a very, very good bug."
Sarkadi's whip-like tail couldn't help but flick. He felt a bit embarrassed and couldn't quite describe his current mood.
When he was human, he had seen many people weeping as they kissed the hull of the *Red Tai Sui*, and he had also seen many people roaring curses, wishing him a miserable death and a place in hell. All of these were insignificant, common occurrences in various corners of the universe.
But the white male seemed to have imagined him as something fragile, diligently telling every bug about the things he had done, burying the meager seeds of pity he had casually scattered—and hadn't even taken to heart—as if they were precious treasures.
"It's fine," he said, offering a small smile. "Now that you've joined my tribe, I am simply protecting my subordinates."
He took two steps closer. After a moment of hesitation, the black Core Species finally reached out and patted Xiao's head. "Go find Selin. He's right inside."
"I will work hard!" Xiao buzzed in a faint voice. When the Core Species' hand touched the top of his head, instinct made the male shudder, but the other only patted him very, very gently.
And so, the light-brown male became happy. "Selin and I, we will both work hard."
Sarkadi watched as the little male, seemingly instantly recharged, left with a light step. In the distance, a short-winged worker female coming out of the production base stepped forward to meet her companion. The two brown bugs clung together, their tails intertwining. Xiao said something happily, and Selin lowered his head to share an intimate nuzzle with the male. Immediately after, the middle species female lifted her companion and carried him away in the opposite direction.
It was truly enough to make any bug envious.
This scene caused the distant "Eternal Bachelor" to click his tongue. He flicked his tail, spread his wings, and flew back.
By the time the curtain of night fell, Sarkadi finally returned to his own nest. Before he could even reach out to push the door open, the white male burst out.
Gela had been waiting for a long time. As soon as the Core Species entered the range of the residential street, his mental tentacles began wanting to crawl about. After the incident that had strained their relationship last time, he was very careful, restraining his habit of wanting to read and entwine himself with the other's emotions.
But instinct still made his range of perception expand, much like a puppy that rushes to the door to wait upon hearing the sound of its favorite human's car parking.
The Core Species scooped Gela up with one hand, gave his small wings a vigorous rub, and touched tails with his companion. He could roughly understand why Selin liked to huddle close to Xiao.
Now that his sense of aesthetics was drifting further and further away from human standards, he found the male quite... cute. No one could refuse a soft, warm, white male Zerg.
And the other smelled good.
Even though Gela had been careful to control his pheromones lately, he just smelled different somehow. The originally cloying sweetness had become gentle, drifting in and out of reach, catching the nose unexpectedly.
The essence of the pheromones was changing.
If the black female Zerg were a native, true bug, he would realize that the other was about to enter full adulthood. Whether or not he could achieve a genetic breakthrough and gain the chance for a second pupation, Gela's—or rather, Roxanne's—sub-adult state was nearing its end. No matter how careful the other was, these traits inherited from biological instinct were hard to hide and would still be released toward a chosen mate.
Even the male himself, lacking the upbringing of kin, hadn't realized that his level of attachment had risen significantly lately. He would become restless because of the impending departure and would unconsciously sniff the pheromones the female Zerg left in the nest, burying himself in the other's blanket for a long time.
Gela thought he had some sort of latent separation anxiety and had once tried to use a heavy workload for self-counseling.
One was thick-skulled, the other was inexperienced; they were a disastrous pair of novices. Yet, these two both felt things were quite fine and didn't sense anything wrong.
Being covered in that clear, sweet scent was intoxicating—it smelled good, but one couldn't smell it too much. It reminded Sarkadi of an unpleasant memory regarding an old acquaintance.
A few close comrades-in-arms who had grown up with him would be more casual than others when facing the man who later held a high position. The Second Legion Commander was a woman from the Holman family. Evelyn had inherited the Holman family's signature green eyes, as well as their talent for opportunistic networking, providing a vast amount of financial support when the Reformists were rising to power.
Afterward, he had asked Evelyn if she had only supported the Reformists, or if she had invested in both the Reformists and the Conservatives, siding with whoever won. The other had only smiled without answering.
It was such a swift and decisive, shrewd woman who, years ago when Sarkadi went to discuss military training arrangements with her, had accidentally left a piece of trashy fiction on her lounge table. Thus, taking advantage of the time spent waiting for his friend to return, the man—who was still quite irreverent back then—sat in the chair and quickly flipped through the book from beginning to end, receiving a trauma that would remain uncured for a lifetime.
Evelyn Holman, a woman born with unimaginable wealth who later controlled the entire Second Legion, read ABO novels in her lounge—the adult-rated kind, no less.
Sarkadi had been so shocked by that pulp literature that his soul nearly left his body and his vision went dark. For a moment, he suspected the future of the Reformists was utterly doomed. Then, he was whipped out of the room by the future Imperial Second Legion Commander, who had rushed back and brandished a military crop. That whip crackled with electric sparks the whole way—this wasn't a metaphor; her whip was actually electrified, beating the man until he had to jump out of the window.
From then on, the Holman family earned a distinction that no one else dared to attempt and had missed the chance to try: insubordination, specifically beating the young Sarkadi himself.
Even after a dozen years, whenever he saw Evelyn, the man would subconsciously glance at the whip hanging from her waist, while trashy novel lines buzzed in his head: *"You smell so good, I can't control myself."*
At the time, while his stomach churned with disbelief, he was wondering if pheromones were some new kind of biochemical weapon that could make a person lose their mind and go into an indiscriminate frenzy like a zombie in an old movie.
As it turned out, after living two lives and dying once, he still remembered that absurd piece of junk, and he discovered with horror that fiction originated from life and art never built castles in the air.
There really were male creatures in the world that smelled very good, and smelling them too much would lead to a loss of sanity.
When it came to biochemical warfare, the Zerg were the true masters.
His fingers unconsciously rubbed the male's wings twice more, Sarkadi's face filled with a look of profound grief. Dead memories were suddenly attacking him.
The night they had rushed out of the nest had been too chaotic, so this terrifying memory hadn't had a chance to be pulled out and examined. Who would have thought that now, when he and Gela had returned to normal, a fleeting thought would make him suddenly relive the fear of being dominated by pulp fiction.
The male, who was already trying his best to stay close, couldn't help but nuzzle against the black scaled tail. Gela lay in the Core Species' arms, uncontrollably sniffing. Those fine threads of mental power spread through his brain like roots, taking hold in every corner of his body and slowly changing his original form.
He was almost standing at the threshold of the "migration," just a tiny bit away from breaking the membrane that bound him.
Similar to the other's feelings, he also felt that the Core Species now smelled like a giant piece of catnip, making his tail coil back and forth, wanting this scent to fill the entire nest.
Sarkadi, however, took this as a normal welcome. After a quick rub, he let go of Gela.
"Have you eaten?" he asked. "If you're done, I'll take you out for something exciting."
***
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Sacre-D: Reborn as the Swarm's Apex | Chapter 41 | A Nighttime Excursion | Novela.app | Novela.app
