The next day, when they returned to their home star system, the leader of the Gray-wing tribe—or rather, the new Sub-King—stood before the crimson starship parked at his front door and remained silent for what felt like a century.
The Red Tai Sui was clearly unable to dock at any Zerg berthing orbit; its sheer mass would have crushed the structures. Instead, it drifted silently in the void of space.
Every Zerg present felt their mind fracturing, as if the end of the world had arrived. It was a terrifying scene, a nightmare bleeding into reality. Waking up and stepping out of the nest only to see that red starship was fundamentally no different from a human seeing a ghost in broad daylight.
"Do you care to explain... what this is?"
Finally, the silver-gray female Zerg turned his head, looking at the Core-species beside him.
"This is friendly assistance from the humans," Sakdi said, his voice level and his pronunciation impeccable. "A most... touching display of friendship. It not only saved the Great Information Nest and many Gray-wings, but it also saved Arthur’s life."
Sakdi had finally seen through his "superficial boss." The two things Clark cared about most were the human he had raised himself and the Gray-wing tribe. Thus, Sakdi frantically stacked complimentary buffs on his old partner’s behalf, aiming every praise at Clark’s pressure points. He had to prevent Clark from exploding in a rage and driving this massive threat out of the star system—or worse, coughing up blood from sheer irritation.
From the perspective of avoiding war, if the Sub-King of the Gray-wings issued a formal expulsion notice, the Red Tai Sui would truly have to consider whether to stay or leave.
Clark stared at him silently.
As a high-ranking Zerg, he had successfully reverted from his xenomorphic state to a humanoid mimicry. His pale gray eyes betrayed his only current emotion: *Keep lying. Go on, keep spinning your tale; let’s see what else you can come up with.*
His boss wasn't like Kleiman; he couldn't be fooled so easily.
"I'm not lying," Sakdi sighed, sitting down where he stood and looking toward the distant starship.
His own emotions were in a state of turmoil, yet a mountain of urgent matters required his attention. Only now was he beginning to consider finding a moment of peace to sort through the chaos in his mind.
Gera had asked if he could personally inspect the Great Information Nest, and the Red Tai Sui had agreed. Consequently, Sakdi's partner was currently with his former comrade.
"If it hadn't come, I truly might not have been able to save you all."
"Krisha blew up the entire Royal Nest and all the docking orbits. Only half your fleet remained. When I arrived, the Pedipalp and Broad-wing tribes were everywhere, the Time River port was on the verge of exploding, the Great Information Nest was nearing disintegration, and the entire core region was collapsing."
The black tail-whip behind Sakdi swayed gently, and a hint of exhaustion flickered in his golden-brown eyes.
"Factually speaking, it did help delay the collapse. It successfully took in your warships and the Great Information Nest, and transported all surviving Gray-wings onto the ship."
"Arthur dragged you out the whole way. The moment he got you into the shuttle, the old Royal Nest disintegrated."
Sakdi added an extra explanation regarding that point. "At the time, I couldn't find a medical pod suitable for humans, so I could only leave Arthur in its care. Roxanne is there too, so there's no need to worry."
Clark said nothing.
He was a direct descendant of the old King, born of the same source as Krisha. He understood the terror of the crimson giant before them far better than the younger Zerg.
A star representing calamity had descended upon the Royal Nest. A fully charged Star-Swallowing class weapon had torn through all defensive networks to harvest the King’s head. Even the residual stellar-core energy pollution had required massive amounts of biotechnology to purge.
The first-generation Star-Swallowing weapons were far too ominous. Their first activation had buried the capital planet and Fahner; their second had torn apart the Golden Crow Fleet and Kamlan. Consequently, humanity had dismantled and destroyed their former trump card, reforging it into the Spear of Longinus.
That crimson entity bore the bleeding Holy Spear, thrusting it deep into the heart of the Swarm. Their race had been fractured ever since, slaughtering one another, giving rise to the ten direct lineages.
"I want to see Arthur," the silver-gray female Zerg finally spoke. "Will it accept a request to board?"
Sakdi didn't know the answer to that. From his perspective, he had to avoid any appearance of impropriety. The Red Tai Sui was a top-tier secret of the human race, a fortress of steel in the cosmos—not to mention it currently carried the last remaining Star-Swallowing weapon. Allowing a Sub-King to enter touched upon the most sensitive nerves of two species that had once been mortal enemies.
"I'll ask," he sighed again, sending a message to his old partner and briefly explaining the situation.
To his surprise, the starship replied quickly and quite calmly.
"Permission granted," the Red Tai Sui said. "I have locked down all high-clearance areas and will only open the section containing the medical facilities. Please do not worry."
"During the early stages of the Time River's construction, the Gray-wing tribe provided certain technical keys. I will accept low-risk requests as appropriate."
If anyone else had made this request—including Sakdi’s own tribe members left on the energy planet—he wouldn't have even relayed the application. But this matter involved Arthur, who was human.
When he had time, Sakdi intended to speak with the Red Tai Sui and ask it to relay the current situation of the humans remaining on Kamlan to Evelyn. Before this, they hadn't realized that xenogeneic pollution still erupted occasionally. The problem of the xenogeneic tides and the Federation remnants had always been there.
The humans stationed at the ruins of the Golden Crow could choose to stay, but the Empire needed to ensure they had a home to return to if they ever wished to.
Sakdi had to apologetically hand over the mess he—or perhaps his former self—had failed to handle properly to his successor. Even if admitting the truth was difficult, he no longer had the standing to hold a place among them.
Once they boarded the ship, the silver-gray female Zerg, his injuries still unhealed, walked slowly toward the medical pod.
The Core-species considered for a second whether he should step out, but ultimately chose to stay and watch. Clark was different from Gera; he carried the weight of the entire Gray-wing tribe. Sakdi couldn't just bring him aboard and then wash his hands of the matter.
Clearly, the Red Tai Sui had provided the best possible treatment. The human hadn't woken up yet, but at least he no longer looked like he was about to expire at any moment. Once those lake-blue eyes were closed, he possessed a quietness that suited his age.
Young, and pale.
The most severe wounds had begun to heal, yet the hideous scars were still visible. There were burns, scalds, lacerations, and corrosive injuries.
To have dragged a high-ranking Zerg in a xenomorphic state out of an oxygen-depleted environment... Sakdi couldn't help but want to ask the female Zerg in front of him what he had fed the human while raising him. He would certainly suggest that Evelyn promote the same cafeteria menu in the future.
"I thought those were hallucinations before death," he heard Clark say softly. "That's why, at the very last moment, I mistakenly thought he had come to my side."
After the medical pod's cover was retracted, Clark reached out and touched the human's lifeless, pale cheek. Then, the female Zerg leaned down, as if intending to press his forehead against his youngling's.
—But for some reason, halfway through the motion, his movement took a bizarre, sharp turn.
Sakdi watched as his boss bent halfway down, then suddenly straightened back up.
Sakdi: "???"
*What kind of new move is this? What was that "almost-touch"?*
"Perhaps it really was a hallucination," the silver-gray high-ranking Zerg suddenly muttered inexplicably. He braced his hands against the edge of the medical pod, looking like he wanted to lean in but was hesitating.
The Core-species almost thought Clark had suffered brain damage during the fight with Krisha—perhaps the vestibular system governing physical balance had been knocked loose.
"What hallucination?" Sakdi couldn't help but ask.
The other man immediately clamped his mouth shut like a clam.
"It's nothing," his superficial boss finally spoke again, his tone calm. "I was too heavily injured at the time. My cognition was distorted; I confused some impossible events with reality."
Leaving a sentence half-finished was a sin against heaven.
"Like what?" Sakdi pressed, unable to restrain himself. This was too rare; he seldom saw a look of such hesitation on a high-ranking Zerg's face. He desperately wanted to know what kind of setback the other had suffered—was there anything he, a good collaborator, couldn't know?
After a moment of silence, he heard the female Zerg speak with a hint of incomprehensible doubt.
"Would a human... toward their own kin—I mean, parents... would they kiss... Never mind. I lost too much blood and my mind was unclear."
However, Sakdi, having caught the keywords, felt his scalp go numb on the spot.
Rarely did anything make his heart race after living two lives with a stoic face, but the sleeping youth before him had managed to do it twice. Sakdi’s internal alarm system let out a piercing shriek in an instant.
*Brother, that was almost certainly not a hallucination!*
In all likelihood, the human had pulled off some unconventional, extreme maneuver. Sakdi, now privy to the whole truth, just wanted to turn tail and run.
Good heavens. Arthur Simmons—Light of Humanity, Superman among Supermen. He had thought the boy dragging a Zerg out of the Royal Nest with beyond-limit physical strength was already the ceiling, but who knew there was an even higher level?
The phrase "humanity is a species without limits" had become a verified universal truth at this very moment.
Just then, the white male Zerg, having discovered his partner was back, came rushing in.
"I felt your emotions—!"
Gera wanted to say he felt Sakdi’s emotions fluctuating wildly and asked if something had happened. But before he could finish, Sakdi clapped a hand over his mouth.
His one-and-only, top-tier partner muffled his words while pulling him into an embrace. Sakdi could smile and tell the Red Tai Sui to shut up, but he couldn't do that to the male Zerg. He could only hurriedly speak first.
"How is the Great Information Nest?"
"Is the damage severe?"
"Can it be restored to its previous state?"
It was a perfect "soul-searching" triple-question. He winked frantically at Gera where Clark couldn't see.
"Ah."
After Sakdi let go, the male Zerg let out a meaningless exclamation. He looked at Sakdi, then at Clark, and then at Arthur lying in the medical pod.
Then, he wore an "I get it" expression.
"Wow!" Gera’s voice was tiny.
The Core-species closed his eyes for a moment. For the first time, he didn't really want to ask his partner—with his excessively high spiritual perception—exactly what he had "gotten."
***
