After listening to the Star Insect’s tale, Feng Zhixi’s expression remained unreadable, his gaze toward the creature appearing almost gentle.
Yet, under that mild scrutiny, the once-mighty Progenitor Star Insect couldn't help but shudder. A powerful sense of foreboding washed over it.
"I... I’ve told you everything! You promised to let me go! Your Xi Clan cannot break an oath!" The Star Insect shrieked, watching Feng Zhixi warily. The Xi people were bound by their word!
Amidst the insect’s screams, Feng Zhixi restarted the weapon. That ominous red beam of light flickered into existence once more.
Seeing the red glow inching closer again and feeling the cold breath of death, the Star Insect fell into a hysterical fit. The Xi were known as the most honorable race in the universe—how could he go back on his word?!
As the red light prepared to swallow the insect whole, the little light ball floating beside Feng Zhixi grew frantic. It spun in circles, trying desperately to intervene. "Cub! You can't! The Xi people aren't allowed to break their oaths!"
It hadn't been fast enough to stop the youngling from agreeing to the cunning insect’s terms earlier. *Uuuu, it’s all my fault!* Once an oath was struck, it was binding even for a Xi cub!
Recalling the fates of those Xi who had broken their oaths in the memories left by its predecessors, the little light ball felt like it was about to explode from anxiety.
*Aaaaah, stop, stop!*
Under the twin gazes of the terrified insect and the panicked ball, the red light halted just before it consumed the Star Insect. Then, the insect—having narrowly escaped death—saw the Xi cub flash a smile. It was as light and shallow as a passing spring breeze, yet so beautiful it made one tremble.
"I will keep my promise, of course," Feng Zhixi said with remarkable patience. "But are you certain you want to live?"
"Of—of course!" Hearing the question, the Star Insect nodded frantically, terrified that this horrific youngling might change his mind.
"In that case, I give you my word," Feng Zhixi promised.
Having successfully secured its life, this Progenitor Mother Insect, which had crossed countless star systems and timelines, became incredibly docile. There was no trace of the greed or cruelty the light ball had described.
However, would a parasitic creature driven by insatiable hunger truly change its nature?
Carefully hiding its inner thoughts, the vicious and cunning Star Insect acted with extreme submission. It chose to lie low; as long as it remained alive, it could surely make a comeback.
*This oath-keeping Xi cub is still too naive,* the Star Insect mocked silently in its heart, its nature asserting itself the moment its life was safe. *Just give me one chance, and I will...*
What the cunning insect failed to realize was that it was the naive one. Feng Zhixi had only promised to let it live; *how* it lived was not up to the insect.
Feng Zhixi looked at the slowly recovering Star Insect in the holographic display with satisfaction. This high-dimensional being, capable of absorbing universal energy strings to heal itself, was exactly the kind of energy source he had been looking for.
At this moment, still ignorant of its future fate, the Star Insect was still naively fantasizing about its return to power...
A week later, when Feng Zhixi finally released the Star Insect from the experimental chamber, it realized just how foolish it had been.
"What are you doing?!!" Trapped in a cage of energy strings, the Star Insect screamed and struggled, but it was futile. The energy strings surrounding it grew denser and tighter, constricting until the insect was compressed into a crystal that resembled black jade.
Once the process was complete, Feng Zhixi placed the Star Insect crystal into the power cell of a weapon he had spent the week modifying. As the crystal clicked into the energy chamber, a purple beam of energy began to swirl around the muzzle of the miniature energy pistol.
Watching the energy readings on the virtual interface, the energy model he had been constructing finally stabilized. Feng Zhixi’s eyes lit up. Just as he had predicted, a core made from a Star Insect crystal was the exact heart this specialized energy weapon required.
Furthermore, this energy source wasn't limited to weapons; it could be used for mechas, starships, and even massive dreadnoughts. Monitoring the data, Feng Zhixi’s eyes crinkled into a smile. He had discovered an entirely new form of biological energy, one that might even be more efficient than Xi Ore. After all, this biological energy source came with a vast, replenishable population.
Watching the ferocious Star Insect turn into an energy crystal, the little light ball swallowed its non-existent saliva. It peered cautiously at the peerless weapon of destruction, nearly moved to tears. It had finally come to a sobering realization that it had previously overlooked: the... the cub seemed to be truly terrifying.
Looking at the youngling who appeared even more ruthless than a Star Insect, the light ball suddenly remembered something it had almost forgotten...
It was something from a very, very long time ago. When the Xi people were about to depart, it had been placed into the "Core" by the Great Priestess of the Xi Clan as the sole remaining spark of their civilization.
Just before falling into its long slumber, the light ball had asked the Great Priestess a question: "Great Priestess, when will the cub appear?"
Its heart was full of visions of a cute, soft, and adorable youngling. The light ball had been so impatient it didn't want to sleep at all!
Hearing the spark's words, the Great Priestess paused as she was about to seal the Core. She looked at the lively spark and gave a helpless smile.
Gazing at the flickering, curious spark, the gentle Priestess answered. The gestation of every newborn cub required an immense amount of time; this was an eternal law of the universe.
"Does it really have to be that long?" The lively spark rubbed against the Priestess’s fingertip coaxingly, its eyes shining as it acted spoiled. "I don't want to sleep. Can't you make the cub appear a little sooner, Great Priestess?" The Great Priestess was so powerful; she surely had a way.
The Priestess couldn't help but laugh at the spark’s antics. She reached out and stroked it, saying softly, "That is not for me to decide. You must remember, time is the one thing we can never change."
"Not even the Great Priestess?" the spark pressed. She was so amazing; surely she could just nudge the timeline to wake the cub early.
"Not even me," the Priestess warned with a smile. "No living being is permitted to tamper with the timeline at will."
"Why?"
"Because when you think you are nudging the timeline to change the future, you are often only making the future you fear arrive even faster," the Priestess replied. "Time has its own will. It will repair itself and return to its proper course."
"Oh." Knowing it couldn't see the lively, cute cub early, the spark felt a bit dejected.
Seeing the spark wilting, the Great Priestess, who possessed the gift of prophecy, comforted it. "When you wake up, the cub will be awake too. You will see him in the future."
"A cub needs enough sleep to be well-behaved. If you wake him up early, he’ll be cranky." As she spoke, a flicker of unease rose within the prophetic Priestess. *Surely no one would be foolish enough to wake that cub early?* One had to understand that the cub destined to wake in the distant future had awakened with the talent of "Destruction."
The Great Priestess could not have known then that in the far-flung future, a single Star Insect would accidentally nudge the timeline, waking the sleeping cub ahead of his time.
