“Congratulations on obtaining full authorization.”
The human smiled, gazing up at the massive, towering nest that seemed to stretch on forever.
Connection units and cables, resembling a network of blood vessels, hung down in dense layers. They swayed and climbed, tightly enveloping the central connection plug like crimson veins weaving into a river, eventually converging at a single point.
All the male Zergs were busy recording data; they were anxious and tense, yet simultaneously brimming with excitement. This was the strongest feedback the Great Information Nest had ever provided.
As the permissions were unlocked one by one, the activated synapses began to show signs of high activity, starting from the lowest level. They slowly expanded, extending fine filaments toward the white Zerg at the center.
Though he was about to depart, the human truly had few personal belongings. Saving time on packing, he had simply come over to help Gera.
During this period, every member of the Information Nest had been working tirelessly, completing a massive amount of data analysis and fragment organization. Even some Broad-wing males had joined the ranks of the workforce.
In truth, one could easily tell the order in which these Zergs had joined simply by looking at them.
The newcomers were far too thin. Even if their injuries had healed, it was difficult for them to grow stronger in just a few days. Unlike the females, who possessed top-tier conversion efficiency and could undergo frantic self-repair while eating, the male Zergs were inherently more fragile, and their self-healing abilities were significantly weaker.
When Kleiman brought these Zergs to Gera, Arthur happened to be present, witnessing the entire display of the other’s prickly demeanor.
Four scrawny males followed timidly behind the dark grey Armed-type Zerg. The thinnest among them was particularly weak, his steps faltering and unsteady.
The young man watched as the cold leader of the Armed species grabbed the male who was stumbling as if he might collapse at any moment, hoisting him up and carrying him inside.
“Don’t give them work that’s too heavy,” the other said with a stiff face after handing the males over to Gera. “He was in a forced hatching period before and hasn't recovered yet.”
Arthur glanced at the Armed-type Zerg a few more times because of that instruction. Gera, who took over, acted quite naturally, gently embracing the Zerg who was deathly afraid and clutching Kleiman’s arm with all his might.
“Don’t worry.”
He pressed close to the other, his mental filaments expertly enveloping the Broad-wing male who was so terrified he wanted to flee. The emaciated male didn't know much of the Common Tongue; he let out weak chirps and struggled feebly, trying to get close to the Armed-type Zerg again for protection, only gradually quieting down once Gera held him fully in his arms.
“I’ll take good care of him. I won’t make them work for the time being.”
“Do as you see fit.”
The female Zerg maintained his wooden expression, his tail swishing behind him. “Those two guards of yours... do I need to send them back?”
Kleiman was referring to En and Enna.
The brothers had recently been tossed into the lower-risk battlefields for mop-up operations and were growing at a frantic pace—not just in terms of skills, but in physical size as well. However, the Armed-type Zerg also understood that they were guards Sarkdi had left for his partner; they couldn't follow the main army forever.
Gera thought seriously for a moment before finally saying, “Let them choose for themselves. If they wish to stay at the front lines, let them stay. If they are willing to return to my side to continue their guard duties, please send them over.”
The other nodded, saying nothing more.
Until the Armed-type leader left, the human continued to stare thoughtfully at his retreating back.
“He has changed a bit,” Arthur remarked. “Compared to our first meeting, this high-ranking direct descendant of the Core Gene Clan has become... less prickly.”
“Is it because of your partner?” He turned toward the white Zerg with the last question, his tone carrying a hint of a smile.
Gera was sitting on the ground, comforting the tiny Broad-wing male huddled in his arms. He smiled upon hearing this.
“Sarkdi always says he likes bullying Kleiman, but in truth, he has always been very good to the Armed species.”
The Zerg held in his arms slowly went limp.
The other was actually older than Gera, but his thoughts were more fragmented, making it difficult to find coherent memories. His body was also a full size smaller than the white Zerg’s. Being repeatedly forced to hatch eggs, beaten, and cannibalized had nearly drained his life force.
When the human looked over, he—it—desperately curled his body, ducking his head and burying it frantically in Gera’s embrace, trying to hide himself.
Fortunately, this situation was gradually improving.
Gera’s mental power was truly heaven-defying; whether it was for healing or soothing, the effects were remarkable. By the third day, these newly joined Zergs no longer exhibited stress responses. Instead, they silently huddled in the corners of the Information Nest, observing the other busy members.
“You are the one with the most powerful mental energy I have ever seen among all races and all living beings.”
Having witnessed the scene of the Great Information Nest’s permissions being unlocked all the way, the human youth couldn't help but sigh softly.
The giant nest was fully awakening, frantically trying to retain the connection plug caught in its center. Even after the operator disconnected and leaped down lightly, countless filaments still attempted to cling to him.
“Thank you.”
While politely responding to the praise, Gera touched tails with each of the colleagues who crowded around him.
Among them, Xiao was the happiest. He buzzed as he hugged Gera, and many other males swarmed forward, nearly drowning Gera, who didn't have enough hands to hold them all. The Broad-wing males hovered timidly on the periphery for a long time, wanting to join but not daring to, until Xiao grabbed them and pulled them into the huddle.
Having seen the bloody scenes of female Zergs fighting in a heap, this was the first time the human had seen males circling together like kittens nuzzling one another. The blue-eyed youth laughed, observing the scene with benevolent curiosity.
It had to be said that the combat drive of male Zergs was much lower than that of the females of the same species, and their emotions were finer and richer. Most possessed a collective consciousness of licking each other's wounds.
The scene was filled with a rhythmic buzzing.
It wasn't until Kleiman visited again that this harmonious humming was broken.
This time, the Armed-type Zerg was there to return En and Enna—the brothers had clearly stated that they had become stronger to protect their own kind and wanted to return to these males. For this, the solemn dark grey direct descendant had made the trip personally.
In the next second, En and Enna also lunged forward, quickly joining the huddle.
Having not seen them for a while, the two brothers, who seemed to have grown just by breathing the air, were much larger than before. En, as a low-level male, was still within normal bounds, but Enna, as a mid-level female, had grown to nearly one and a half times his previous size, directly flattening a pile of Zergs.
Kleiman’s face darkened on the spot as he dragged the other out, rescuing the males who were letting out terrified squeaks.
“You are not allowed to go!” he commanded coldly. “No crowding together!”
However, before he could finish his sentence, the scales on his tail began to flare.
A male Zerg had hugged his leg at some point and was looking up at him. It was the Broad-wing male who was as skeletal as a hemp stalk, whose neck could barely support his head, and who had laid many empty eggs.
The other was still very, very thin, but his complexion no longer looked like he was about to die, though he still kept his damaged tail tightly tucked away out of timidity.
A faint, barely audible buzzing leaked out—this was likely the maximum volume the male dared to produce. Kleiman discerned that it was the emotional language for “thank you.”
The other Zergs also looked over, cautiously drawing a bit closer.
A few were quite familiar; they were the ones he and Gera had visited house-to-house, including the first male who had been scared half to death by his door-smashing, and the male with six wailing larvae crawling all over the nest. They, too, were softly and delicately thanking the Armed-type Zerg.
It was a belated gratitude ceremony.
Kleiman was about to explode.
The scales along his entire tail were standing up one by one at ninety-degree angles. From a distance, he looked like a row of ripe, split pinecones.
The direct descendant, whose mental state collapsed whenever he dealt with male Zergs, was currently surrounded by a group of his "objects of fear" who were buzzing at him. His expressionless face betrayed a sense of suffocation, as if he were about to pass out.
The entire scene was simply too hilarious. If the pitch-black Core-type Zerg were here, he would have undoubtedly laughed out loud without mercy.
Gera and the human youth stayed in the back, struggling to suppress their laughter at this rare spectacle and the dark grey female’s performance.
“Has he always had this personality?” Arthur asked his friend.
“Always, though he’s already much better than at the beginning,” Gera whispered back. “At first, he wouldn't even step within a foot of a male, nor would he speak to me. Sarkdi said he even had a dispute with him over this.”
Rather than a dispute, it was more like one-sided mockery. Back then, the tail-swishing leader and the Armed Zergs under him had been provoked to the point of near-death by the black female’s merciless words, leading to a series of actions including, but not limited to, dark glares, collective isolation, and disastrous failures in wild dungeon runs.
“So, Zergs can change,” Arthur said softly, his blue eyes curving as he watched the flustered dark grey female who wanted to lose his temper but held it back. “Like humans, once inherent concepts are formed, they are difficult to reshape, but it is not entirely impossible.”
He turned his head toward Gera, his voice very light. “Your partner is quite remarkable.”
“I can understand Clark’s excessive tolerance toward me personally, and I can understand the bloody methods he uses when governing the entire Gray-wing tribe. For me, no matter what habits or forms he displays, it will not affect my feelings for him.”
“As the one enjoying special treatment and as a beneficiary of his favor, perhaps my thoughts themselves are a form of condescension, an act of ignoring the suffering of others—I accept every part of Clark that is different from a human.”
The youth’s words were very gentle.
“But your partner wants to choose the hardest path. He chose the one with the smallest short-term returns, the greatest resistance, and the one that the ignorant would call hypocrisy.”
“Both he and you are very impressive.”
Now Gera also experienced the embarrassment Sarkdi felt when faced with praise. He quickly hid his thin, long tail—whose scales were turning red—behind his back and shook his head vigorously.
“I’m... I’m not that remarkable. It’s all thanks to Sarkdi.”
Taking the human’s hand, the male Zerg gave him a hug. This was his first time hugging a creature other than a Zerg, so it was laced with a strange shyness. “You are also very good, and Clark is very good... He is the Sub-King Zerg I’ve seen who takes the most care of his tribe.”
“Are you really leaving?” he asked in a small voice, looking at the youth up close. When the other had told him the departure time earlier, Gera had been startled. “I want you to stay. You are the... first human friend I’ve made.”
Thinking carefully in his heart, the male Zerg decided that a partner and a friend were not the same type. Although Sarkdi possessed human thoughts, he had already become his partner, so the heavy responsibility of being a friend fell upon Arthur.
Arthur Simmons was slightly taller than Gera. It was hard to say who was older, but the human’s mindset was sufficiently mature. He reached out a hand and very gently hugged the white Zerg.
“Don’t be sad. We will meet again.”
“I suspect that the next time Star Core energy is transported, Sarkdi will likely bring you along to see Kamlan.”
If the Core-type’s golden-brown eyes were like a steady, deep sea, the human’s eyes were more like a mountain lake; all the blue had settled down, more tranquil than the quietest fjord.
“When that time comes, I would be happy to introduce you to my other home,” he said. “I am glad I met Sarkdi in Kamlan and boarded his ship, and that I got to know you during the subsequent journey.”
“I am also glad to have seen Clark again and to have been able to help him in the King Zerg’s nest.”
“Fate has already gifted me the best of everything.”
There was no forcedness in the human’s smile; he was truly happy because of it.
“I have never been so grateful for my life until now.”
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 阔翅种 | Broad-wing species | A type of male Zerg mentioned in this chapter, noted for being physically weaker. |
| 肖 | Xiao | A male Zerg colleague of Gera in the Information Nest. |
| 恩 | En | A low-level male Zerg, one of the brothers serving as guards. |
| Enna | 恩纳 | A mid-level female Zerg, En's brother, who grew significantly larger. |
| 核心基因族群 | Core Gene Clan | The high-ranking lineage Kleiman belongs to. |
| 星核能源 | Star Core Energy | The resource being transported between locations. |
