Sacre-D: Reborn as the Swarm's Apex | Chapter 52 | A Reason to Follow | Novela.app

“Apologies, I need to return immediately.” Having hung up the communication, the Core Seed addressed the youth waiting quietly beside him, then sent out a notification to the Armed Seeds: “Withdraw as soon as the cargo is unloaded.” “Please tally the inventory as quickly as possible,” he added. However, the youth named Arthur Simmons looked at him and posed a question that went far beyond their current dealings. “When you return, could you take me with you?” Sakt: “Huh?” The Core Seed’s head snapped up. Perhaps the expression of *‘What kind of nonsense are you talking?’* was too obvious on his face, for Arthur repeated himself: “You are returning to the Energy Star. I heard you mention Ja and the Grey-wing tribe. May I go with you?” The black-clad Zerg sighed, finally tearing his gaze away from Kleiman’s reply. “This isn't a funny joke. I’m truly in a hurry.” “I am not joking; I am making a sincere request. Just now, your... partner? brought news that Clark has challenged the Sub-King of the Grey-wing tribe. I cannot wait here for a result that may never come.” Those lake-blue eyes looked over, devoid of any humor, filled only with earnestness. “I want to go to his side, but the ships currently available here are not capable of deep-space navigation.” “If there is anything I can do—provided it does not harm the human race or Clark—I will agree to it.” “As a trading partner I’ve only just met, don’t you think this request is a bit too familiar?” Sakt countered. “Out of defensiveness, you weren't even willing to explain your relationship with Clark. Now, you’re asking me to carry a strange human passenger back to my tribe’s habitat—to bring a potential danger into the nest.” Sakt’s expression remained unchanged, showing no sign of yielding to the request. “Zerg space is not suitable for human survival. The temperature, gravity fields, and oxygen levels are likely different from human-habitable systems, and there are no stable, appropriate food sources.” He paused, then added, “You cannot survive on the surface for long without protection.” The youth’s status as a Federation remnant might be a lingering problem Sakt himself had created. Although the specifics were murky, it was indeed his past self who had enacted the relevant decrees and operations. Therefore, the Core Seed did not completely shut the door on the conversation. He needed to weigh the risks this human posed before deciding how to proceed. “Tell me. Give me a reason why you, as a human, want to go to the side of a Zerg no matter what. I don’t believe humans harbor any particular goodwill toward our kind.” “Based on your reason, I will make my final judgment.” The secrets of Kamlan went far beyond this; it was a good opportunity to dig deeper. “This is your only chance. Confess your relationship with Clark to earn my trust.” Arthur closed his eyes for a moment. When he looked back at the black-clad Zerg, he seemed to have reached a decision. “Are you familiar with the history of the human civil wars?” He did not take offense at the other’s cold, forceful attitude, instead beginning his statement with an unexpected topic. The originally seamless shell finally cracked open. “During the mid-to-late stages of the war, large numbers of mid-to-high-level officials and ordinary citizens began a planned mass escape under forged identities to avoid the flames of war—or the fate of being purged by both the Empire and the Federation.” The gentle voice spoke in a calm tone, the youth’s expression devoid of negative emotion. Sakt knew of this. At twenty-six, Sakt Salileban had taken the *Red Taisui* on its first deep-space raid, launching a lightning strike on the Swarm Mother’s royal nest. In the end, at the cost of nearly his entire army and the meltdown of two of the *Red Taisui’s* core power reactors, he had decapitated a Swarm Mother for the first time. That was the ladder that led him to the heavens, and the death knell for the conservatives of the Galactic Federation. Afterward, the Federation slid toward collapse at an extreme speed. In just ten years, a large number of high-ranking conservatives were no longer willing to go head-to-head with the rising Reformists. Perhaps out of fear, or perhaps because they could no longer endure tragedies like V217, many began to flee Federation jurisdiction. These escapees lacked the protection of the new forces led by Sakt and were easily hunted by the Federation. Those years were too chaotic; even he could not account for everything. The civil war and the war against the Zerg had formed a triangular stalemate. During the long years from age twenty-six to thirty-seven, the Federation dissolved, the humans' own war reached its end, and he raided Zerg nests five times. He completely drove the powerful alien race out of human-habitable systems, but the price paid was a bullet-riddled Empire and the radiation sickness that eventually led him to his death. There were too many corners he couldn't reach. If the problem of the Federation remnants was blamed on him, it wasn't exactly wrong. “My parents were among them, though they left quite late.” “Perhaps it was because my father could not easily leave the front lines. He was facing both the Imperial army and small-scale Zerg swarms; fleeing would have caused casualties among the civilians. Even though the Zerg were on the verge of splitting, parts of the swarm still frequently appeared near the borders.” Arthur smiled calmly as he spoke of all this. “But the Federation’s defeat was inevitable. He was no longer willing to follow unreasonable orders and continue fighting his own kind.” “Apologies, I don’t actually remember much of this myself. It was Clark who later found their remaining belongings.” “It’s strange—a Zerg telling me about my past as a human and teaching me to speak formal Human Universal Language. I don’t think you’ll find another like him in the entire universe.” A faint sorrow and longing surfaced in those lake-blue eyes. “Let’s talk about the first image I can recall since I began remembering things.” “I remember lying on the floor. My father was sitting by the bed, blood seeping from his nose and eye sockets, mixed with dried vomit splattered everywhere.” “That is my earliest memory as a human.” Many remnants fled to the fringe planets of Kamlan. The Empire would not accept them, and the collapsing Federation was descending further into madness, using harsh methods to make examples of any fugitives they caught. But as it turned out, Kamlan was indeed unsuitable for human life. Arthur Simmons’ mother soon passed away due to xenogenic contamination. His father took his young son into hiding, hoping to return to their homeland after the war ended. It wasn't until the humans decapitated a King-class Zerg for the fifth time that the long triangular war finally ended with the retreat of the other two factions. But Arthur’s father did not meet the conditions for amnesty. His rank ensured he would never be on the Empire’s welcome list. In the early days, there had been many "pledge of loyalty" incidents where defecting officers tried to assassinate the supreme leader of the Reformists. In the most widespread incident, Sakt’s transport was bombed, the heat and flying shrapnel causing over seventy civilian casualties. The rigorous screening of Federation remnants from specific positions was raised to a whole new level, let alone for those who were targets of the purge due to their kill counts during the war. And so, while the Grey-wing tribe was nearby, mopping up the last remnants of the Hard-wing tribe, the man who had reached a dead end in a harsh environment, lost his wife, and realized he could never return home, waited for his son to fall into a deep sleep. He locked the doors and windows of their small hut and poured a whole bottle of liquid explosive residue into the fireplace. When heated, these residues would produce a massive amount of carbon monoxide in a short time. Unfortunately, humans are wondrous creatures, always wavering. Perhaps he regretted his rash decision, or perhaps it was his instinct as a father, but in his final moments, the man must have felt extreme remorse. He stumbled to his feet, pushed a window open just a crack, and used all his strength to push his sleeping son off the bed and onto the floor. Fatal gases are slightly lighter than air and float toward the ceiling. Having done this, the man no longer had the strength to move. He sat by the bed in that posture until dawn. Five-year-old Arthur Simmons woke from his stupor and sleep to see his father sitting there, eyes open, looking down at him, with blood and dark green vomit splattered everywhere. The man sat there, motionless. When the boy reached out, crying and trying to shake him, the heavy body slumped to the floor. A human child could not open the locked door. Seeking help, Arthur could only stumble from a chair to the desk, and from the desk to the windowsill, before tumbling out. It was a cold season, and thick snow had accumulated on the alien planet. Once away from the warmth of the fireplace, the blood flowing from his forehead quickly froze into ice. The fringe planetary belts were always cold, the survival environment too harsh. Humans had to face not only the constant threat of xenogenic contamination but also the brutal natural climate. The primal colors that formed Simmons’ childhood were a violent red and a desolate white. In that world of ice and snow, he lost his way, nearing death from cold and weakness. Until a silver-grey female Zerg descended from the sky. The High-rank Seed was splattered with the blood of the Hard-wing tribe. He had chased a panicked, fleeing target across the human-defined boundary line and landed on a planet he had never set foot on before. War and slaughter had stained him almost entirely crimson; the pink bloodstains had dried and darkened, only to be layered over with fresh ones. He had hunted the resisting adult Hard-wings nearly to extinction. His warships had crushed every nest of the rival tribe, and even the polar mountains of the fringe planet had changed color because of it. Then, a High-rank Genetic Seed who had just lost his mate and all his larvae encountered a human cub who had just lost all his kin. It was like the cruelest joke played by fate. Perhaps it was because the instincts carried in his genes could not find a proper subject to nurture and thus became confused, or perhaps the tragic sight of his own larvae being devoured had left his hormones and emotions in a state of upheaval. This direct descendant of the Guardian tribe, a race most skilled in combat, did not immediately eliminate the young human. The female Zerg lowered his head, observing the other expressionlessly, as if looking at something incomprehensible. He was still in a semi-alienated state, wings spread, fine scales covering his limbs, his second pair of silver-grey eyes like inorganic glass, reflecting the color of the snow. Until the human cub stumbled forward and grabbed his leg. A five-year-old child could not yet correctly distinguish between death, the Zerg, and war. Before misfortune struck, his family had protected him too well. Thus, he easily forgot the warning that "creatures with wings are terrifying." He did not understand why the person before him bore unusual wings and a tail-whip, nor did he understand that those scaled tails and sharp claws could easily tear him apart. Hunger, cold, and the lingering effects of poisoning were about to drain the last spark of his life. The will to survive made him reach out toward the terrifying enemy. Arthur Simmons, with unsteady steps, tightly hugged the silver-grey Zerg—hugged the only other living thing in that boundless snowy forest. Those blue eyes, inherited from his mother, looked up, gazing at the numb-faced hunter. That was thirteen years ago, their first meeting. *** | Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 红太岁 | Red Taisui | The name of Sakt's flagship/vessel in his past life. | | 银河联邦 | Galactic Federation | The human political entity Sakt once led/fought for. | | 革新派 | Reformists | The political faction Sakt led during the human civil war. | | 保守派 | Conservatives | The opposing faction in the human civil war. | | 戍卫族群 | Guardian Tribe | A specific Zerg tribe known for combat/guarding. | | 连结栓 | Connection Plug/Bolt | A physical or neural interface component for Zerg communication. | | 信息连接器 | Information Connector | A device used for neural/data connection. |