The black Core Seed urgently summoned several of his more reliable-looking subordinates.
Selin had thought something dire had happened. During his off-hours, he had been huddling with Xiao to sun their wings when the summons arrived, forcing him to send the male back to their nest before rushing to Angon.
Three or four other Zerg were already seated at the scene. They were a diverse group, ranging from Low-ranks to Mid-ranks; some were natives of Ja, while others belonged to defeated tribes sold to the energy planet. Some had decent mimicry forms, while others crawled around on four legs—it was a truly eclectic gathering.
Their only commonality was that every one of these subordinates had a partner.
Sakdi sat regally in the center, his expression as dark as the bottom of a blackened pot.
The deep-brown Short-wing Seed was startled, fearing some catastrophic oversight had occurred in the management of the energy planet.
But in the next second, the leader beckoned him closer.
"Have you ever built a cocoon nest for a male?"
He heard the tribal leader ask. Sakdi’s expressionless face betrayed a sense of cold, world-weary resignation.
"I... I have?"
The bewildered Short-wing Seed answered hesitantly. "Before the Zerg split, we were responsible for the nursery work in the King’s nest. We built cocoon nests frequently. The Pincer Seeds should know a bit too; they sometimes build similar small nests for the egg-laying Kings."
The next moment, Sakdi looked as if he had seen a savior. He stood up abruptly, moving with such speed that a gust of wind followed him as he appeared before the Mid-rank.
"I’m giving you one day to teach me."
"Huh...?"
Selin was left dazed by this sudden demand, instinctively nodding to obey his leader’s unreasonable personal request.
Then, reality set in. "This... this isn't really something that can be taught."
The other Zerg sat there in silence, their expressions radiating a sense of agreement that said, *Yes, exactly.*
"It’s like how every Zerg naturally knows how to breathe or eat. It’s an... instinct?" The deep-brown Zerg spoke up, bracing himself. "You use acid to melt building materials, then stack them into the shape of a cocoon. Then you just wait for it to naturally evaporate and solidify."
*Where does the acid come from?*
Sakdi’s mind was reeling, but his face remained a calm, unruffled surface.
He knew that Zerg had acid glands and that their blood was somewhat corrosive. However, as a "fake" Zerg, while he had intuitively mastered the art of alien combat, he hadn't unlocked a single point in the construction skill tree.
He couldn't exactly say to his subordinates, "Bare your accessory teeth and secrete some acid for me to see."
"What if there is no acid?"
The black Core Seed asked again, his voice cold. The atmospheric pressure in the room dropped dangerously low.
This question left Selin completely floored.
"Huh?"
He uttered his second syllable of confusion within a single minute.
"Why would there be no acid?"
It was as absurd as asking a Zerg why they didn't have wings, a tail whip, or pheromones.
"Can other things substitute for it?"
Sakdi had no intention of explaining further. He tapped his fingers against the armrest of his chair, a slight irritability surfacing that even he didn't fully notice.
He was actually in a hurry.
Gela’s habit of reporting only the good news and hiding the bad meant that this need had to be met as soon as possible.
When he had held the white Zerg in their bed, the other had rarely let out pained, low buzzing sounds in his sleep.
Gela looked uncomfortable.
Successfully tracing the Great Information Nest had drained a massive amount of the male's physical strength, but it had also used aggressive, forced means to push his already sky-high mental power even higher.
Before his consciousness could even register it, his body had already issued a warning—his current physical vessel was no longer sufficient to contain the overflowing mental power. It was urging the male to enter the pupation stage as soon as possible, regardless of the cost.
Before Sakdi returned to Ja, Gela’s strained mental state had suppressed his instinctive demands. However, once he saw the Core Seed and relaxed, realizing he was back in a safe environment and smelling the pheromones that urged him toward full maturity, Gela could no longer suppress his instincts as a male.
Like a crumbling dam, the thirst for a genetic breakthrough that had been stubbornly held back suddenly burst through.
Gela needed to complete his eclosion soon.
And Sakdi had observed this.
Even while asleep, the other would press close to him and sniff, as if trying to alleviate some discomfort, his scaled tail twitching uneasily from time to time.
He had to get that cocoon nest built today.
And he couldn't let another Zerg do it for him, because it would be tainted with someone else's pheromones, and Gela wouldn't like that.
If all else failed, he would use the welding torch he had tossed aside in the underground space. A real man could weld a mecha with his bare hands; he could probably weld a cocoon nest too.
Selin felt his entire being go numb.
In the eyes of all the residents of the energy planets, Sakdi had always been omnipotent. Today, he was witnessing firsthand that there were things even this man couldn't do.
"Any harmless material that is sticky and hardens quickly will work," he said dryly.
"It’s just... it might not be very aesthetic."
Aesthetics weren't a big deal; the Core Seed prioritized safety and practicality.
So, after holding a meeting with this group of bewildered subordinates for half a day and being surrounded by a swarm of Zerg buzzing various bits of advice at him, Sakdi stood up. He felt like he was entering an exam hall for the first time in his previous life as he patted the deep-brown Short-wing Seed on the shoulder.
"I understand."
For some reason, Selin heard a hint of solemnity in that tone.
The man looked straight ahead, his expression as calm and composed as ever.
"I’ll go try."
*No, your eyes are saying you didn't understand at all.*
The Mid-rank screamed internally, but he didn't dare say it aloud. He could only nod and watch the tribal leader depart with swift, decisive strides.
It wasn't until he returned to his own nest and saw his little male walking over to touch tails with him that he remembered the question he hadn't had time to ask.
Gela had long since passed from childhood to sub-adulthood and completed his first eclosion. Why was Sakdi choosing to build a nest now?
On the other side, the black Core Seed quickly gathered a pile of materials.
He returned to the nest and crouched by the corner with the intensity of someone studying structural concrete, pondering how to assemble this cocoon.
The items piled on the floor weren't just common nesting materials; there was also a heap of quick-drying adhesives used in military construction, high-pressure molding powder, spot-welding tools... basically, he had grabbed everything that might be useful.
When the white Zerg walked through the door, he saw his intended partner crouching, facing the corner, rustling about with something.
When he stepped closer to see the masterpiece, even Gela—a devoted follower of Sakdi and his number one fan—paused for a moment.
He truly couldn't find the words to praise it.
*Help, it’s really ugly.*
Zerg aesthetics weren't on the same wavelength as humans; their biotechnology often resulted in scenes that would drain a human's sanity.
But even so, the thing the Core Seed had made was... indescribable.
It wasn't unsettling like the mental monitors that crawled over walls like blooming flesh; it was just simply... ugly.
A three-cycle-old hatchling wouldn't have kneaded mud into such a shape.
The irregular nest body looked like a misshapen sack stuffed with scrap wire. Every loose end or hole had been forcibly patched and welded by Sakdi, who had even smeared an extra layer of material over it in an attempt to make the lumpy surface look smoother.
For a moment, Gela wondered if the Zerg who built this cocoon was the same one who had built the *Qiming*.
This was actually quite unfair to Sakdi.
The nesting materials were all soft and floppy before they hardened. He would patch one side only for the other to sag, like someone trying to plaster a wall with too much plaster that kept falling off.
Working too intently, the Core Seed didn't notice the presence behind him. Gela saw him scratch his hair in frustration, leaning back slightly to stare at his work from a distance before letting out a disgusted "tsk."
This made the male laugh silently.
Before Sakdi could turn around, Gela had already walked over lightly and gently wrapped his arms around the other's neck from behind.
The male let out a soft, cheerful hum—a tiny, happy buzzing sound. When the Core Seed turned his head, he felt the other's powerful wings shift beneath him, though Sakdi was careful not to knock him away.
"Thank you," Gela said, his tail intertwining with the black tail whip.
The other's body temperature was slightly higher than usual, no longer cool to the touch, and he was still holding a simple scraper in his hand.
"Thank you," the male repeated softly.
He knew Sakdi had no experience, yet he had humbled himself to kneel here on one knee, bracing himself with a stern face to create this ugly, one-of-a-kind cocoon nest in the entire universe just for him.
He pressed his cheek against the side of the other's neck and closed his eyes.
"This is the best little nest I've ever seen."
***
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
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核心种 | Core Seed | A high-ranking, powerful Zerg subspecies.
茧巢 | Cocoon Nest | A biological structure used by Zerg for pupation or reproduction.
蛹化 | Pupation | The process of a Zerg molting or evolving into a more mature state.
羽化 | Eclosion / Emergence | The final stage of pupation where the Zerg emerges in its adult form.
酸腺 | Acid Glands | Biological organs in Zerg used to secrete corrosive fluids for combat or construction.
信息巢 | Information Nest | A collective psychic or data network used by the Zerg.
短翅种 | Short-wing Seed | A specific subspecies or classification of Zerg.
鳌种 | Pincer Seed | A specific subspecies or classification of Zerg, likely specialized in construction or labor.
启明 | Qiming | The name of the starship/mecha Sakdi built (previously translated as "Enlightenment" or "Dawn," here kept as transliteration).
