Since reaching adulthood, Clark had weathered countless battles.
The silver-gray female sat perched upon the throne, facing the direction of his people, having torn the reigning Sub-King to shreds. He wanted to go and rescue his kin who were buried under the rubble; a large number of direct descendants had entered the old Queen’s Nest area together, and their fate remained unknown.
But he could no longer move.
When a liquid droplet fell upon him, he faintly heard the sound of weeping.
It was the human he had raised.
He... he wanted to ask why the boy was here, if he was hurt somewhere, or if something was in pain, causing him to cry as heart-wrenchingly as he had in his childhood.
Then, he felt the human lean down and press a very, very light kiss against him.
It was not the kiss of a hatchling expressing affection for a guardian.
Before shock or incomprehension could set in, he first tasted a flavor mingled with tears and blood.
*I made Arthur cry,* Clark thought.
This realization was as bitter as the human’s tears.
Immediately afterward, the female’s consciousness sank into an endless darkness.
***
Sakti encountered Arthur and Clark halfway through his path.
At first glance, he was startled by their wretched state. He almost thought he was looking at two corpses in motion.
Though he had encountered many wounded of the Grey-wing race along the way—regardless of whether they belonged to the Sub-King’s faction or his own—he had dug them out and pointed them toward the exit, tactfully mentioning that "a red starship outside will receive you."
As for whether the insects who successfully escaped would be scared to death by the Red Tai Sui blocking the gate, that was not his concern.
Time was running out. Every wasted second brought the Queen’s Nest closer to total disintegration. He didn't want to give up the search until it was absolutely necessary, but he couldn't afford to lose his own life here either.
His partner was waiting for him to return. If any accident occurred, Gela would be heartbroken.
Fortunately, as he delved deeper, the figures of other Grey-wings became almost non-existent. Just as he was pondering which direction to take next, he ran headlong into his search targets.
He almost didn't recognize them.
The human’s exoskeleton armor was shattered in many places. Every inch of exposed skin was a gruesome sight, and blood seeped from his nose and ears.
The silver-gray female was in no better condition; he had been nearly eviscerated, his wings were broken and hanging limp behind him, and fresh blood dripped down as they moved.
The exoskeleton of the Zerg could resist the acid corrosion within their own blood. But the human’s armor was incomplete; occasionally, a drop or two would flow through the gaps, instantly burning wounds deep enough to expose bone.
With every breath the youth took, the sound of blood bubbling in his throat could be heard.
No one knew how he had dragged a female much heavier than himself, crawling bit by bit from the deepest reaches of the nest. This defied common sense; both Newton and Osler would have had to climb out of their coffins to protest.
Sakti rushed forward on the spot, catching the two dying fellows with one arm each.
*Good grief, a literal superman is right beside me.*
But the blue-eyed human gripped his arm with a death grip.
Currently, Arthur didn't even look human, yet those lake-like eyes remained pained but resolute amidst the burning fires.
"Save... him."
The youth didn't actually make a sound—the smoke had severely damaged his throat—but the Core-species recognized the shape of his lips.
Immediately after, Sakti felt something being shoved into his hand.
"Tell the Grey-wings... the winner is Clark."
Then, the human silently slid down along his arm.
Standing amidst the constantly collapsing ruins, the spiral tubular passages were frantically swallowing the last of the oxygen, starting from the core and turning everything into a sea of fire.
Sakti held two unlucky bastards of uncertain life status in the crooks of his arms, while in his palm lay the heart of the Sub-King, Krisha.
Fortunately, there were no more Zerg in need of rescue on the return journey.
Almost the moment he stepped out of the building complex and prepared to dash toward his small aircraft parked in the distance, he noticed something unusual.
A force field was lightly cradling the core area of the Queen’s Nest.
"Red Tai Sui," he murmured under his breath.
For some reason, the starship had chosen to provide a safety net, applying a layer of protection to the Queen’s Nest, significantly slowing the disintegration of this part of the fortifications.
This was actually quite unusual.
Starships were different from humans; they had their own way of thinking and would not hesitate for any reason, nor would they make sudden changes of heart or reversals. They only made adjustments when the current plan would seriously jeopardize the established goal or the safety of the human collective.
"You need to evacuate immediately."
At the same time, the Red Tai Sui, which had exchanged communication channels with him not long ago, issued a calm warning.
"By calculation, the Queen’s Nest will disintegrate within three hundred and sixty seconds. If you cannot enter a safe zone before then, you will be caught in the collapse."
"My force field cannot hold much longer. Next, I will prioritize separating the Great Information Nest to ensure that the Fahna remnant templates and the Time River Port are not affected."
"Understood."
Sakti sprinted toward his aircraft with the strength he once used for military physical exams. He couldn't care less if the two he was carrying were comfortable with this speed; being tossed around was better than everyone dying here together.
However, it seemed his luck had run out. Just as he was about to reach his aircraft, the ground beneath him gave way with an earth-shattering crack. The gravity field of the entire nest planet had gone on strike.
After the Zerg chose this place as their habitat, they had hollowed out an entire planet, transforming it into a nest for the Queen. The core area, which had been modified beyond recognition, relied on the gravity field every moment to maintain basic stability. However, with the disintegration of the nest, this artificial... or rather, insect-made creation had completely ceased to function.
Almost by instinct, pitch-black wings unfurled, vibrating at extreme speed.
The Core-species leaped up. His countless accumulated combat experiences allowed him to use speed to race against death. He hooked his leg onto the landing gear of the floating aircraft, unlocking it in one fluid motion. Without daring to delay for even a second, he threw the human and the female inside, then flipped himself into the seat.
With one hand operating the control panel and the other pulling safety restraints over his plastic boss and his human friend, he saw the Red Tai Sui’s laser weapons carve out an entire Great Information Nest as the aircraft took flight. It was being sealed within a relatively static force field shield along with the wreckage of Clark’s warship, being sent into the starship’s interior for containment.
Having a large capacity was truly a blessing.
The idea of stuffing an entire Great Information Nest inside was something others wouldn't even dare to dream of, yet the starship did it as easily as scooping a prickly pear off the top of a cactus.
"Take my ship with you," Sakti called out to Red Tai Sui over the comms. "Activate the key and take it along. Have all the Grey-wings boarded?"
"The Grey-wing race has been fully contained," the starship replied serenely. "Some showed resistance to entering your ship. I stunned them with electricity and then placed them inside using small transport drones."
Sakti: "..."
*Classic you.*
*Don't let that cold-joke sense of humor flare up at a time like this, friend.*
"I don't think they were resisting entering my ship; they were probably just scared witless by the sight of you."
The universe was a makeshift stage, and fate was a moronic screenwriter.
The first five times he had visited the Queen’s Nest, it was to bring back the Queen’s head as a souvenir. Yet, on his sixth visit to the old haunt, it was to run into the nest to save the bugs.
"Some of your companions were severely frightened. I believe they require appropriate pacification," Red Tai Sui’s tone was devoid of ripples. "However, current conditions do not allow for pacification, nor am I a suitable explainer. Therefore, I placed them in a temporary state of unconsciousness to avoid interfering with subsequent containment measures."
"Do you require me to set a specific destination for your ship?"
...
To describe electrocuting them so elegantly—the vocabulary of these new intelligent species followed the principle of keeping up with the times at every moment.
The Core-species pinched the bridge of his nose. "No need. I'll stay with you. Just get out of the danger zone for now."
"Once I quickly handle the emergency situation, we shall talk."
Clearly, Red Tai Sui didn't intend to just "abscond with the prize" after swallowing a Great Information Nest.
Entering Zerg space in an emergency could be reasonably explained, but hauling away their entire information database and deep-space communication base station was practically a prelude to war.
Setting aside the influence of their directors, the starships themselves were mostly pacifists. They would protect human interests when necessary and had their own preferences, but they held no obvious animosity toward different species. They generally wouldn't perform such provocative "take-everything-and-run" operations.
"Very well," the starship replied. "I have adjusted to follow mode."
They rapidly broke away from the core area.
As the last trace of the stabilizing force field was withdrawn, the Queen’s Nest, which had stood for dozens of Great Cycles, held no further lingering attachments and entered a state of total disintegration.
Whether it was the countless heads of vassal races collected by the Queen or the exquisite spiral fortifications that had finally taken shape over many generations, they collapsed and separated in an instant.
Like an entire fractured glacier sliding into the sea, crushing all the waves, the golden-red flames and silver nest wreckage all turned into shining fragments. Like a meteor shower pouring down from the vault of heaven, they all plunged into the boundless universe.
That was almost the entirety of Sakti Salileban’s life as a human.
Because of this Queen’s Nest, he had stepped into war.
From lying about his age to enlist at fifteen to the proclamation of the ceasefire decree at forty, during which the Federation dissolved and the Empire was restored, his hatred and anger had slowly transformed into exhaustion and acceptance with age.
After gaining a new life, he had once again become entangled with this race. The moment he had a partner, he was already prepared to never return.
Countless docking orbits pulled into fine threads, wrapping layer upon layer around the central core, all vanishing into nothingness at this moment.
The last old place that bore witness to the traces of his existence as a human also slowly drifted away and dissipated like endless fine sand. It became part of the universe, part of the broader star sectors, becoming floating stardust.
Like a wilting flower, or an elegy of days gone by, the silhouette of the past was stripped away, finally flowing slowly into the long river of time.
Red Tai Sui stopped quietly by his side, joining him in witnessing this long-overdue farewell.
