SZAR Chapter 96

Erwen reached out, stopping his hand just below Qu Xia’s cheek.

The touch in his hand was icy, dampening his fingertips.

He froze.

Female zergs were not allowed to show weakness. Erwen hadn’t cried since he could remember, and neither had Nuo Wei. This was the first time he had ever wiped another’s tears.

His fingers were stiff as he brushed Qu Xia’s cheek, stiffly saying, “Don’t cry.”

Qu Xia pushed his hand away, stood up, and left the tea room. He strode back to his room, locked the door, pulled out his suitcase, and began packing in silence.

He wasn’t staying on this cursed capital star any longer!

Erwen remained still for a long moment.

After a while, he sighed, rubbed his brow, and dialed Sylph.

Sylph, lounging on the sofa with tea and newspaper, blinked at the name on the interface, then teased, “So, Admiral, how’s life with the little female zerg?”

There was a pause on the line. Then Erwen’s hesitant voice came: “I… I think I made him cry.”

Sylph: “Pfft—”

Frantically trying to salvage the wet sofa, he exclaimed in shock, “Erwen, what did you do?! I just handed him to you yesterday!”

Sylph’s scolding was sharp, like rebuking some scumbag who’d hurt a child: “That female was happy when he left last night!”

Erwen: “……”

He sounded a little worn out. “I didn’t do anything… I just taught him table manners, and guided hima bit in tea ceremony.”

He briefly recounted the morning’s events.

Sylph let out a soft sigh.

He pressed his hand to his forehead. “Erwen, I know you come from an old noble family and value these things, but Lock has just arrived on the main planet. He has no parents. You can’t be so harsh with him.”

Erwen: “But—”

“I know what you want to say, don’t interrupt me,” Sylph said. “Enduring blame is our fate, yes, but even if we prepare perfectly, can we truly escape it?”

His tone was tinged with sorrow. “Nuo Wei was the most obedient child, and you, our generation’s prodigy, excelled at everything, the genuine darlings of the heavens. But how did your marriages turn out?”

Erwen’s bond with his Male Lord didn’t need mentioning, and Nuo Wei would soon marry, his partner, though not known for cruelty, wasn’t exactly easy-tempered. The future of a young Major General, who could say?

Erwen remained silent.

Sylph continued, “Lock has just arrived on the main planet. He’s naturally anxious. And we researchers aren’t as resilient as military females. Hot tea can burn his skin, and you’re should bring ointment for him.”

He warned sharply, “If Lock runs off, don’t expect me to find another suitable candidate for you.” Then he hung up.

Inside the bedroom, Qu Xia struggled to close his backpack.

It was an old hand-me-down from the original owner, decades old, fraying at the seams. Packed tight, it looked ready to fall apart.

Qu Xia grabbed the bag and hurried out, only to run into Erwen ascending the stairs.

His steps froze.

Even with his emotions flaring, facing the Admiral was intimidating. He braced himself at the stair landing, trying to sound fierce but inwardly trembling. “What do you want!”

No matter what Erwen said, he would not be making tea again!

Erwen let out a sigh and took Qu Xia’s hand. “Let me see your hand.”

He led Qu Xia back to the room, his fingers lightly tracing over the reddened, slightly swollen skin from the burn. Without another word, he bent slightly in front of Qu Xia and applied the cooling ointment.

Qu Xia felt a bit at a loss.

He was the type who only responded to softness, not force. When Erwen had been stern with him, all he wanted was to grab his bag and run, thinking, If they won’t keep me here, I’ll find my own place. But now, with the Admiral bent down in front of him, applying ointment, he couldn’t say a word.

Deep down, Qu Xia knew Erwen was looking out for him.

He wasn’t stupid. He had at least some understanding of how female zergs fared in this world. Erwen’s actions were the mark of a responsible sponsor; otherwise, with all his duties, he could’ve just ignored Qu Xia, leaving him to fend for himself. Why go to the trouble of personally teaching him?

And yet… he still felt wronged.

Qu Xia stayed silent as Erwen carefully applied the ointment. When Erwen stood and reached for Qu Xia’s backpack, he paused. “You’re leaving?”

The bag was plump and full, obvious the moment he touched it.

Qu Xia first nodded, then shook his head quickly, muttering guiltily, “N-no… I’m not.”

He didn’t know why he felt guilty.

Erwen went to the door and, recalling Sylph’s words, sighed. Female zergs had strong regenerative abilities, but the redness and swelling on Qu Xia’s skin had lasted this long, his level must not be high, and his birth circumstances weren’t favorable. A perfect marriage was unlikely, so strict guidance held little meaning; it was better to let him enjoy a pleasant student life.

“I won’t force you to learn anything,” Erwen said. “Live as you like. I’ll deposit your living expenses to your account every month.”

He closed the door and left. Almost immediately, Qu Xia’s mouth dropped open.

He had received a transfer from Erwen.

It was a huge sum, more than he’d saved in six months.

Qu Xia’s resolve to run was shaken.

Honestly, this villa was luxurious and imposing. His room was spacious and comfortable, with a massive floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the artificial lake in the back garden. On clear days, he could even see the wisteria vines stretching along the lake’s edge.

Renting a room this nice on the main planet? Even if he sold himself, he couldn’t afford it.

He thought for a moment and canceled his ticket to the second-class star. Since Erwen had said he wouldn’t force him to get up or make him learn tea ceremony, Qu Xia could wait another couple of days. If Erwen changed his mind, it wouldn’t be too late to run.

Just then, Qu Xia’s light-brain beeped three times.

It was a call from Sylph.

On the comms channel, Sylph called him affectionately, “Lock, the new equipment in the lab is ready. Want to come take a look?”

Qu Xia’s eyes lit up. “What equipment?”

Sylph raised an eyebrow, already guessing his reaction, and laughed. “That’s a secret.”

Playing it mysterious, he added, “It’s the Empire’s top secret. I can’t tell you over the comms. If you’re interested, come help out. You’re just in time, we’re short-handed right now anyway.”

With the recent expeditions, more and more female soldiers were experiencing issues in their mental seas, and male zergs were too scarce to provide effective relief.

Under repeated pressure from the military and the royal family, the main planet’s few labs researching mental wave modulation were working themselves to the bone. Yet breakthroughs were rare, and so far, results had been minimal.

Qu Xia jumped out of bed. “I’m coming!”

His moods came fast and went just as quickly. Something he liked immediately pulled his attention, leaving the morning’s unpleasantness behind.

He emptied his backpack, only taking his student ID and a few essentials, then rushed downstairs, waving at Erwen on the sofa.

“Goodbye, Admiral! I’m off to the lab!”

Erwen paused.

Nuo Wei would never have said goodbye like that.

Children in his family were mature from a young age, always composed and restrained. When leaving home, they bowed properly at the door and gave a single polite report. Qu Xia, radiant and full of energy, was unlike anything Erwen had ever seen.

It reminded him of that lively little strategist back on the junk planet.

He nodded slightly and replied quietly, “Goodbye.”

Qu Xia had already gone out of sight.

 ………………

Sylph’s lab was located in the northwest corner of Central University. When Qu Xia arrived, he was wearing a cleanroom suit, patiently adjusting a massive piece of equipment.

Qu Xia walked over. It looked like an oven, with seven or eight layers of metal racks inside. Colored lights flickered, and through the frosted glass he could vaguely make out the objects placed on the shelves.

They were… eggs?

Qu Xia pressed his hand against the glass, frowning. “Why eggs? We’re studying the mental sea, not incubation, right?”

Sylph said, “It’s a brand-new hypothesis.”

“All the eggs inside are biologically dead. But we discovered by chance that these eggs emit certain waves, similar to the fluctuations of the mental sea.”

The mental sea of the zerg species was fragile yet powerful. Slight disturbances could cause unbearable pain. Research showed that when biological vitality is severed, the mental sea is the last part to lose energy. Even when a zerg’s heartbeat stops, blood no longer flows, and oxygen levels drop to a minimum, they still retain brief mental wave activity.

“Although the duration is short, we found that with a special preservation method, the residual mental energy in these eggs can remain active for about half a month. The Department has been linking these dead eggs with female zergs to replace and purify energy.”

Qu Xia said, “A fascinating research direction.”

He had read every cutting-edge paper in human neuro-science and had never heard of anything like this.

Sylph smiled. “Of course. We’re one of the Empire’s most advanced research laboratories, with all sorts of unusual research directions. Once you become my student, you’ll be free to choose any area that interests you.”

Sylph was a busy senior researcher. Seeing that Qu Xia was composed and hadn’t developed any psychological issues from Erwen’s pressure, he relaxed. He then called over a senior to show Qu Xia around, explaining that he could explore freely before he left for a meeting.

The senior gave Qu Xia a tour, then went off to handle research tasks, leaving Qu Xia to play with the lab’s built-in light-brain games. After a short while, noticing no one was paying attention, Qu Xia quickly exited the game interface.

He sat somewhere out of the cameras’ reach, fingers flying across the keyboard.

He typed: “Royal Family.”

The lab’s light-brain had extremely high access privileges, capable of retrieving all sorts of secret information. Its lone firewall was easily bypassed by Qu Xia, skills he’d perfected in his past life from digging through experimental data.

Qu Xia moved like a pro. He first downloaded large chunks of data locally, copied them onto the light-brain, and then erased all traces of his access.

When the progress bar hit 100%, Qu Xia held the light-brain and smiled at his seniors. “Everyone, it’s getting late. If I go home too late, Admiral Erwen will scold me. I’d better head off”

Everyone in the lab had heard of the stern Admiral, knew he was strict and intolerant of mistakes, and they cast sympathetic looks at Qu Xia. “Then you’d better hurry. It’s not fun if the Admiral gets angry.”

Qu Xia nodded, pretending to look anxious, and quickly boarded his homebound aircraft.

By the time the city lights flickered on, he was back at the villa with the garden.

Admiral Erwen couldn’t see, so he hadn’t turned on any lights. By day, the house was bright and spacious, but now the entire villa was shrouded in black night, the windows like dark voids, giving it a slightly ghostly feel.

Qu Xia pushed the door open, peeking inside. “Admiral?”

No response.

He looked around. Erwen wasn’t on the first floor. The dining area was cold and empty, with no sign of a meal.

Qu Xia groped his way up the stairs, then suddenly froze on the second floor.

From somewhere on the third floor, faint, intermittent breathing could be heard.