Struck by the cub’s staggering talent, the light ball—who considered itself the greatest Nurturer in existence—slumped its spherical face, looking utterly dejected.
Possessing a strong sense of crisis, the light ball spun in place, its mind spiraling into a tragic, self-inflicted melodrama.
*Sob, sob, sob... The cub is practically self-taught now. At this rate, he won't need me anymore. I finally found a long-term meal ticket to fill my belly; am I going to start starving again so soon?*
*Sob, sob... I’m going to become a pathetic, lonely, solitary ball again. Woe is me...*
While the little light ball was busy whimpering and imagining a miserable future of drifting through the cosmos, homeless and starving, it suddenly heard the cub’s voice.
The cool, pleasant voice was like a breeze through a mountain forest—fresh and natural.
“So, is this the only Star Bug?” Feng Zhixi asked, watching the ball spin as it lost itself in whatever nonsense it was thinking.
Snapped back from its wandering thoughts, the light ball realized a pressing issue: this Star Bug likely wasn't the progenitor!
According to the memories inherited from its predecessors, these parasitic organisms hid themselves exceptionally well in their early stages. They would cautiously conceal their tracks while they were vulnerable, breeding frantically until their numbers were great enough to reveal their true, hideous nature.
Most of the time, by the time the Xixi people discovered Star Bugs, the swarm had already grown to a terrifying scale. Thus, even the Xixi, who were the most adept at manipulating cosmic energy strings, were extremely cautious when facing them.
Finding a mother Star Bug here didn't mean there weren't others elsewhere.
If they were lucky, this mother bug was the progenitor. But if it wasn't, then a plague might already be spreading through this sector of the galaxy. Thinking of the horrific consequences of a Star Bug infestation, the light ball practically exploded with anxiety, its halo puffing out until it looked a size larger.
*Aaaaah, what do we do?! These rapidly expanding Star Bugs are the natural enemies of all species!!!*
While the light ball spun in circles, terrified by its own imagination, Feng Zhixi looked down at the yarn ball. The Star Bug trapped within the energy string cage remained stiff and pitch-black, motionless as if it were dead.
“It seems I’ll just have to ask it,” Feng Zhixi said calmly, seemingly unaffected by the light ball’s dire mental projections.
“Ask... ask who?” The light ball looked at him blankly. Who did the cub want to ask?
The pinkish ball tilted its face up in confusion, only to see the beautiful Xixi cub’s lips curve into a slight smile. A light was hidden deep within his eyes, like a vast ocean of stars.
“It.” Smiling, Feng Zhixi placed the black yarn ball on the table. To learn the truth of everything, the fastest way was naturally to interrogate this Star Bug—the only prisoner they had.
Looking at the bug he had captured, Feng Zhixi still had lingering doubts. He was now certain that the research results Hill had presented actually belonged to him. The question was: how did Hill—or rather, this Star Bug—obtain them?
The truth he sought could only be pried from the bug’s mouth. Looking at the spider encased in the yarn ball, Feng Zhixi pondered how to make it tell the truth.
*Interrogate a Star Bug?* Facing the cub’s naivety, the pink light ball sighed with the air of an elder and said earnestly, “That would certainly be the fastest way, but no one has ever succeeded. Star Bugs are greedy, cruel creatures. In their eyes, other species are merely vessels for parasitism—tools for their reproduction. They never communicate with their vessels.”
“Is that so?” Hearing this, Feng Zhixi studied the black yarn ball. The Star Bug maintained its rigid posture, unmoving, projecting an aura of someone who would rather die than submit.
“Are you really going to say nothing?” Feng Zhixi asked the stiff spider in a soft tone. However, the bug wrapped in the energy string cage acted as if it heard nothing, remaining as still as an insect specimen, seemingly disdaining any communication with what it viewed as a mere vessel.
“In that case, keeping you around seems rather useless.” Observing the black yarn ball, Feng Zhixi let out a faint smile.
The black-haired, black-eyed youth pressed his thin lips together. His exquisite features relaxed into an expression of lazy comfort. His voice was clear and pleasant, yet his actions made the "System" trapped within the energy cage feel its skin crawl.
Feng Zhixi slowly opened his "little toolbox." After rummaging through it and picking out a few gadgets with far-from-ordinary power, his eyes sparkled as he looked at the Star Bug.
This was a biological entity from high-dimensional space—the perfect experimental subject. It was the ideal chance to test some of his ideas. Feng Zhixi looked at the Star Bug, his eyes crinkling with a smile.
