Cleaning up the entire battlefield took half a day.
Clark’s troops joined in, greatly shortening the time required. The two packs of mad dogs merged back into one; the swarm, following the silver-grey female’s orders, picked the enemy clean. The only pity was that the Sub-King, Krisha, never showed his face.
The moment Sakedi saw a "sucker" take over the mess, he immediately switched to slacker mode. He was truly exhausted from the fight.
By the time they returned to their home star system, it was already the next morning. The fatigue from the day-and-a-half-long campaign finally caught up to him, reminding him to rest. The best way to mend damage was through consumption and hibernation. Even his boss patting his shoulder and saying meaningfully, "You’ll probably have your own title soon," couldn't snap him out of his desperate need for sleep.
However, the moment he stepped off the ship, he saw the white male standing at the entrance of the docking bay, waiting for him.
Danger. Extreme danger.
The Core-type, fresh from battle, was dead tired. The impact from hijacking the ship had cost him half his life, and the subsequent battle royale had taken the other half. He was currently covered in dried blood and the stench of gangrenous rust from the battlefield. Had he known, he would have followed that high-ranking Zerg’s example and cleaned himself up before coming down.
"Are you hurt?" the male asked, stepping closer and looking him over.
"Just some minor injuries." Sakedi had originally intended to say he wasn't hurt at all, fearing his partner might start "dropping little pearls." But given his current appearance, a flat denial seemed too ridiculous. The words shifted on his tongue, and he settled for a half-truth delivered in a nonchalant tone.
Gela didn't say whether he believed him or not. He simply looked at him quietly and held out his arms. It was a gesture asking for a hug.
The Core-type hurriedly retreated several steps. "Wait until I wipe myself down."
But the male approached in silence, firmly embracing the black female who was still trying to evade him.
"Liar," Gela whispered.
The pale arms and the folded pure-white wings were instantly stained by a patch of blood and filth.
Sakedi: "..."
He had forgotten that his partner’s spiritual power was exceptional; there was no fooling him.
"I was wrong." The Core-type apologized swiftly and decisively with a heavy heart. Although he lacked experience, the stories of his former colleagues told him that once you were caught red-handed by your partner, you had to admit your mistake sincerely and immediately. Otherwise, the lies told today would turn into time bombs ready to explode tomorrow.
He somewhat helplessly stroked the male’s head, only to realize he had gotten the other’s hair dirty as well. It was an awkward scene.
"Cough, want to take a bath?" Sakedi forced a change of subject, clumsily trying to divert Gela’s attention.
Then he saw that while the male remained buried in his chest, silent, those pearl-colored wings twitched slightly, and his tail wagged in small arcs. Gela, as expected, did not follow the usual path.
The Core-type found two pools, one for himself and one for the male. Sakedi first rolled around in scrubbing salts in his xenomorphic form, rubbing off all the obvious stains before lying down in the pool to soak. He hadn't even been lying there like a salted fish for a minute when the male, who was supposed to be staying put in the other pool, ran over and dove headfirst into his arms.
The black Core-type, so tired his eyes were nearly closed, was scared half to death. He nearly bolted straight out of the pool, the scales on his tail-whip standing on end in a rare display of shock. The male was warm and soft, his damp wings and scaled tail wrapping around Sakedi’s body.
"This... this isn't quite right!" Sakedi was still using all four limbs to try and climb out, his tail and wings each jutting out in different directions as if they had minds of their own. It was a scene of utter chaos.
But Gela only looked up at him, his slender white tail swaying slightly, flicking in a relaxed manner. "Didn't you say before that you were going to teach me?"
Oh, he had said that. The problem was, he hadn't learned how to do it himself yet.
The Core-type’s face turned a rare shade of grim, and then he saw the "little lecherous bug," who had already learned how to be mischievous like a cat, let out a laugh. Gela tugged on his arm, pulling him back into the pool.
"I'm joking. I just wanted to lean against you and talk." The male spoke with a straight face.
"Is this 'talk' the serious kind?" Sakedi asked with difficulty, his pitch-black wings wrapping around himself tightly. Even the strictest Puritan from Old Earth would have praised his defensive posture.
However, Gela nudged his way into Sakedi's arms, prying open those folded wings and finding the most comfortable spot between the Core-type’s arms, curling up and settling down like a kitten.
Sakedi’s scalp tingled. He was indeed used to holding his partner, but definitely not in this naked state where things could spark at any moment.
As it turned out, Gela really was just "staying under the covers to look at his watch." Once held, he didn't move again, merely closing his eyes and emitting small, happy hums.
"You're tired. I won't trouble you," the male said, stroking Sakedi’s face. "Are you hurt?"
He repeated the question from the docking bay in a relaxed tone, his tail wagging. Truly a vengeful little brat.
Sakedi’s golden-brown eyes narrowed. It had been a long time since anyone dared to provoke him like this.
"I am." As he spoke, he leaned down and took a bite of the pure-white wings that were spread across the water like fallen petals.
The male actually had a severe psychological shadow regarding this action. He instantly snapped out of his cheerful mood, his body stiffening. But the Core-type didn't use any force at all, nor did he repeat the bite. Instead, he held Gela tightly, kissing his way along the length of the wings.
Gela was always the one to start trouble, but he was also always the first one to break and surrender.
"Let me see which little bug is holding a grudge against me, hmm?" Sakedi pinched his partner’s cheek. The male let out a *vroom* sound, his tail standing straight up.
"Me! It's me!" Gela admitted defeat quite fast, turning cowardly instantly. But he still held onto the Core-type tightly, refusing to let go.
"I saw Arthur helping you analyze the Great Information Nest." Sakedi weighed the little male in his arms, his golden-brown eyes filled with a smile. Once one accepted the setting of "not being human," shame would naturally give way. "Remember what I said? Don't put yourself in danger."
Their black and white tails intertwined. Sakedi couldn't help but think that tails were a wonderful invention. The male was very cute, and the male’s scaled tail was also very cute.
The female Zerg, on the other hand, was a creature that still occasionally made his perceptions waver. When studying the habits of this species, he felt an extreme sense of contradiction. It was hard to imagine that within the same species, the differences between female and male could be so vast. It constantly fried his already malfunctioning gender-determination system.
Clearly, the Zerg had points of commonality with human society, but they also had parts that ran in the opposite direction.
The ability to reproduce, for any creature in the universe, was like a power where a curse and control coexisted. Sometimes the negative impact of the curse on the individual far outweighed the benefits it brought. Humans could not separate the two, but the Zerg had.
Since the era of the Swarm Mother, the all-controlling King Zerg had completely transferred the cost of reproduction onto other Zerg or even other organisms. The current Core-gene direct descendants perfectly continued this tradition. Females controlled the swarm; even without using parasitic means, the eggs were still left to the males to hatch. There was no weakness or depletion for the females; they remained at the peak of their combat power forever.
When the curse was partitioned off, all that remained was unshakable power.
This situation was very similar to the social structure of the Zerg—keep the good, transfer the bad, and filter for the genes most beneficial to the swarm generation after generation. The prosperity of the race stood above all else. This was natural selection under a different environment. Two completely different paths from humanity.
"What are you thinking about?" While his mind was wandering across the universe, Gela nuzzled him again. The white Zerg was careful not to actively read his partner’s mental fluctuations, but some emotional perceptions were unavoidable. "Are you thinking about other Zerg?"
Still a little jealous jar.
Sakedi was amused. He scratched the other’s waist, earning some huffy humming. "I was thinking about humans, and about males and females."
But Gela wouldn't throw a tantrum; Gela would only kiss him. Sakedi couldn't resist it at all.
"I was just thinking... if I analyze the living conditions of females and males based on human... cough, based on my own concepts, would that be a manifestation of arrogance?" He sighed softly, stroking Gela’s head. "Sometimes I can't even figure out my own thoughts. It's hard to explain these things. Human and Zerg social structures are a set of completely opposite controls."
That was why even he, when designating Evelyn as the successor, had faced pressure from all sides. No matter how excellent Evelyn was, even with the Second Legion in her hand and the entire Holman family behind her, having fought her way out of blood and fire—everyone still sighed when looking at her, saying, "We are about to welcome an Empress."
Yet, the power structure was completely inverted among the Zerg. What a stark contrast.
"I think I once saw a document, a record with a viewpoint completely opposite to Arthur’s." Feeling the male listening to him in silence, Sakedi couldn't help but run his fingers through the other’s soft little wings. "It was a conversation transcribed into text; I can't remember the specific details. Because of his own reasons, it was quite difficult for the White Emperor to leave behind any public images. For a long time, this Emperor was called the Mad King by humans. Even before he fell into Akasha, while he still held a human identity, he was shrouded in infamy that was hard to wash away. I only remember him saying that, in another sense, he still loved humanity."
"At the time, I didn't understand." When Gela leaned in again to comfort him with a kiss, the Core-type smiled. "Why, after such a betrayal, did he still choose a human as a partner and choose to seal Akasha for the sake of humanity? And then, when it was my turn... I pretty much understood. It is hard for me not to love that race as deeply as I hate all the vile parts of human nature. Even though it has disappointed me a thousand times, I cannot control myself from loving it. Compared to the rotting parts, there are even more people desperately climbing up, trying to hold up the crumbling mountains."
Like Evelyn, like Klein, like Marshal Ye Ciyuan who had scolded him countless times. And from even older times, the commander of the Fifth Legion fleet; Irene Holman, who also came from the Holman family; or Tana Mapuz, who rose from the status of a Bloodhound but eventually overturned the Mapuz Academy of Sciences; or even the remnants of the Federation who still guard Camlann to prevent the spread of the Xenogeneic Tide and protect the remaining model of Fahna...
His golden-brown eyes lowered, like a deep and distant lake. "It is hard for me not to love the path I came from."
This was essentially a confession. Humanity had stumbled to this day; suffering and decay were still everywhere, yet everything concerning civilization was like a spark protected in the palm of a hand, passed from one set of hands to another.
"Of course, I drew a decent hand on both sides. For a winner to say such things is perhaps a bit too brazen. Even when just surviving was so difficult, did you ever wish for the Zerg to perish?" he asked his partner.
"Never," Gela answered him. Those pale eyes quietly watched the female whose shell and soul did not match. "Perhaps this isn't the answer you want, but nature tells me that I still pray for my race to prosper forever. Even if the survival of all males is accompanied by pain, even if low-to-mid-tier females become consumables for the Core-gene swarm—we have never wished for our race to vanish. However, before that, please do not misunderstand: I love you more than anything else. You are the only weight on the scales of my soul."
"So, you are very impressive." Sakedi smiled and kissed the male’s eyes, the kiss feeling a bit itchy as it brushed against the white, fan-like eyelashes. "Losing a segment of memory makes me fall into anxiety; looking back at the past makes me busy with self-reproach. But you have already chosen what you want and bravely fought for it."
"You misunderstand one thing," Gela spoke softly. "No female would try to understand our pain, just as we cannot empathize with the females who die in the slaughter of internal strife or in defense of the swarm. It has nothing to do with identity or race. You try to hear me, to hear *our* voices—even though you didn't have to. That is what distinguishes you from other Zerg."
The male said, "So, whether you met me on that raider ship or not, or no matter how many times we meet again—I would still fall in love with you all over again."
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 亚王虫克里沙 | Sub-King Krisha | A specific Sub-King Zerg character. |
| 搓搓盐 | Scrubbing salts | Bath salts used for cleaning/exfoliating. |
| 白皇帝 | White Emperor | A historical human figure in the novel's lore. |
| 疯王 | Mad King | A derogatory title for the White Emperor. |
| 阿卡夏 | Akasha | Likely referring to the Akashic Records or a specific digital/spiritual realm. |
| 叶慈元 | Ye Ciyuan | A human Marshal mentioned in Sakedi's memories. |
| 伊芙琳 | Evelyn | A human successor/leader from Sakedi's past. |
| 克莱因 | Klein | A character from Sakedi's human past. |
| 霍尔曼家族 | Holman Family | A prominent human family/faction. |
| 艾琳·霍尔曼 | Irene Holman | A historical figure from the Holman family. |
| 寻血猎犬 | Bloodhound | A specific rank or role in the human military/society. |
| 塔娜·马普兹 | Tana Mapuz | A historical figure who overturned the Mapuz Academy. |
| 马普兹科学院 | Mapuz Academy of Sciences | A scientific institution in human history. |
| 卡姆兰 | Camlann | A location where the Xenogeneic Tide is being held back. |
| 异种潮汐 | Xenogeneic Tide | A phenomenon or threat in the sci-fi setting. |
| 法赫纳 | Fahna | A location or model mentioned in human history. |
| 大信息巢 | Great Information Nest | A Zerg data/spiritual structure. |
