SZAR Chapter 98

The next day, in a VIP ward at Central Hospital on the capital star, the medical staff carefully removed the bandages from Erwen’s eyes.

The Admiral’s dark teal eyes scanned the room, sweeping over the doctors in white coats, landing on Sylph beside the bed, and finally resting on the boy at the bedside.

This boy was someone Erwen had never seen, yet there was an oddly familiar air about him. His round, deer-like eyes were bright with a hint of a smile. Erwen tested the name: “Lock?”

Qu Xia responded with a hum and held up two fingers in front of him: “How many is this?”

Erwen waved his hand aside and gestured over Qu Xia’s head, pausing subtly.

Lock… was a bit short.

For a female zerg, he was on the petite side, looking weaker than the average female zerg, the kind that would be completely unappealing for marriage purposes.

Suddenly, Erwen seemed to understand why Lock always looked unhappy whenever marriage was mentioned.

Qu Xia tilted his head in curiosity: “Why are you sighing?”

Erwen shook his head.

The doctor stepped forward at the right moment. “Sir, you should undergo a full examination.”

The results came quickly. Erwen had regained roughly 80% of his sight, but there were still defects, fast-moving targets caused double images, and occasional astigmatism persisted.

The doctor handed the report to the others. Sylph leaned over to read as well, and as they went line by line, their expressions grew more serious.

Sylph murmured: “Can further treatment help? We can’t accept this result.”

This level of vision would not hinder everyday life, but Erwen was no ordinary zerg. As an Imperial Admiral, he needed precise eyesight to pilot starships and take down enemies. Blurred or doubled images could make him miss, rendering him unfit for his duties.

Sylph lowered his voice: “Damn it… now the old bastards will have every reason to demote you from Admiral.”

Erwen’s expression remained calm. He looked at the doctor. “Is there any way to treat this?”

The white-haired specialist studied the diagnosis sheet, then shook his head after a moment. “I’m afraid there’s nothing that can be done.”

“The problem isn’t really with the eyes,” the doctor explained, “but with pheromones and the mental sea. The body has long-standing weaknesses, and the eye trauma just triggered the symptoms.”

Zerg pheromones were like a block of brick, just move them wherever needed. Any tricky, seemingly unsolvable problem could usually be mapped onto it; in other words, eight or nine times out of ten, it worked.

Sylph frowned at Erwen. “You can’t delay any longer. You must open the matching system immediately.”

Erwen replied calmly, “Not yet.”

The eighth expedition had just ended, and the ninth hadn’t begun. He still had time.

Qu Xia, standing nearby, asked, “Does this pheromone issue require a specific method of pheromone extraction?”

The doctor glanced at him, puzzled. “What other method could there be?”

Pheromones were difficult to extract without a male zerg’s consent. Besides intimate contact, there really wasn’t any alternative.

Qu Xia said nothing further.

It was still class time, and Erwen had to remain under hospital observation. After asking Qu Xia a couple of questions about his studies, he let him go to continue reading. Sylph, brow furrowed, returned to the lab and saw his young student dive headfirst into a sea of reagents without a moment’s hesitation.

“You’re not worried at all?” Sylph complained.

Qu Xia shot back, “What good would worrying do?”

He adjusted the incubator to the proper temperature and looked at Sylph. “I’m doing experiments. If you’re not helping, leave. You’re distracting me.”

Sylph muttered something about the little ungrateful brat and stormed off.

Once Qu Xia saw him disappear at the end of the corridor, he turned the lab’s ventilation system to maximum. Then he took out a syringe and drew half a vial of blood.

He was intensely curious about the chemical composition of Zerg pheromones.

Studies on male Zerg pheromones were rare in the literature. First, they were precious, families often didn’t have enough for their own female zergs, let alone research. Second, they were difficult to preserve; outside the body, pheromones quickly lost activity unless the male was coaxed into a lab or cryogenic chamber. Otherwise, extracting any effective component was nearly impossible.

Qu Xia had none of these limitations.

Swift and precise, he stored the fresh blood in a refrigerated chamber, then placed a droplet on the observation stage under an electron microscope.

Two hours later, after drawing seven, eight, maybe ten syringes and exhausting all the freshly drawn blood, he ended up with a tiny vial containing a single milky-white droplet, smaller than a fingernail.

Qu Xia carefully put the vial away and returned to the villa.

The Admiral was upstairs handling official matters, while Qu Xia wandered around the kitchen. He retrieved a set of dusty teacups and carefully washed them.

The pheromone’s scent was too strong to serve directly; it had to be masked with something more pungent.

Qu Xia didn’t distinguish between the teas in the jars, Pu’er and Tieguanyin were the same to him. Following the principle that the stronger the flavor, the better, he scooped a little of each. Half an ounce of tea per cup of water, he mixed it all into a strange, indescribable brew.

After a moment, he paused and added a pinch of salt, feeling it wasn’t enough, then a little sugar.

He brought the odd liquid to his nose; the mint aroma was completely hidden behind the heavy tea blend. Satisfied, he carried the tray upstairs.

Qu Xia knocked on Erwen’s door.

Erwen: “Lock?”

Qu Xia looked down at his toes, acting obedient. “Yes. I wanted to come talk to you.”

Erwen paused.

Again, he felt that this young zerg was different from Nuo Wei. His relationship with Nuo Wei was more like guardian and dependent than uncle and nephew, almost no interactions beyond formal education, let alone nighttime chats.

Erwen rubbed his brow. “Come in.”

Qu Xia slipped inside and courteously handed him a cup of tea, then sat obediently to the side. “Admiral, I came to apologize.”

He had been racking his brain for a justification, crafting a whole ⟬ Rebellious Youth Repents and Understands the Parent’s Good Intentions ⟭ persona. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper with you earlier.”

Seeing Qu Xia so obedient made Erwen frown. His mind told him that a child showing understanding was a good thing, but his instincts sent a shiver down his spine. He thought for a moment, deciding not to dampen the boy’s initiative, then picked up the tea and drank it in one go.

He coughed sharply, his expression twisted.

…What kind of tea was this?

Erwen had been tasting tea for years and was considered a master of the art. He frowned, staring at the strange liquid in his hands, trying to identify it, but nothing came to mind.

Biluochun? No. Jinjunmei? No. Maofeng? Also no…

He slowly sank into thought.

Qu Xia let out a laugh and darted away.

Erwen was still holding the tea cup, examining it.

Strangely, despite this bizarre concoction, he didn’t feel discomfort. Instead, a warmth flowed down his esophagus into his stomach, leaving his slightly bloated eyes feeling clearer than before.

Erwen didn’t understand why.

By now it was deep into the night. Outside, the darkness spread thickly. He tidied his desk, changed, and lay down to sleep, but in his dream, his brow suddenly furrowed.

His body burned intensely, blood rushing and pooling.

In the dream, it seemed someone lifted his legs, fingertips brushing lightly, and then he embraced that person. Something he had long experienced replayed abruptly, yet it was completely unlike the pain of memory. His limbs convulsed and trembled, his body soft and weak. Then he brushed aside the sticky, damp hair and saw the person’s face.

…Lock?

No, the face in the dream was more mature than Lock’s. He seemed grown up, still striking, but taller, with his sharp teeth faintly visible.

Lock opened his mouth, his fangs grazing Erwen’s glands, then bent closer, his voice filled with concern: “Admiral, did I hurt you?”

Erwen awoke with a start.

He bolted upright in bed, bewildered by such a strange dream. Both he and Lock were female zergs, and he was Lock’s sponsor. How could a sponsor harbor such thoughts?

His expression darkened, and he instinctively slid his hand under the covers.

Sure enough, he felt a damp spot.

It had never happened in reality, just a dream, and yet it had this effect?

Erwen took a deep breath and stepped into the bathroom.

He turned on the shower, letting the cold water pour over his face. Tilting his head toward the mirror, he saw strands of his silver-gray hair clinging to his back, his pale cheeks tinged with an unnatural flush, and even the skin around his collarbones carrying a faint cherry-blossom pink.

Expressionless, Erwen adjusted the shower to pour harder.

The next day, the admiral stayed at the military headquarters.

He told Qu Xia that he was busy with military affairs, then spent seven or eight consecutive days at the headquarters, returning home only occasionally, always in a hurry both ways.

Qu Xia didn’t notice Erwen’s deliberate distance. He quietly continued his experiments in the lab. Research on mental waves had made significant progress, and the eggs in the incubators could now briefly store mental tendrils. But some aspects were not ready to be revealed, so Qu Xia refrained, publishing only a few minor papers on unrelated topics.

Though minor for a prodigy, the workload was still considerable, and research on zerg mental waves had long lacked breakthroughs. These few papers became rare gems, and Qu Xia’s reputation soared, quickly making him a rising star in the field.

As his academic life grew increasingly busy, Erwen deliberately avoided him. They had an unspoken rhythm of missing each other; even when they met at the villa, it was always in passing, and communications via the light-brain grew infrequent.

Erwen still sent Qu Xia his allowance on schedule.

He never skimped on living expenses, and each transfer was larger than the last. Qu Xia felt a little guilty and could only offer Erwen a cup of heavily steeped, fortified tea during each brief reunion, laden with apology.

Time passed, and it wasn’t long before Qu Xia met all the graduation requirements.

Sylph sighed. There was really nothing left to teach this talented student. After signing off on his graduation, he looked up at the still-young Qu Xia and asked, “Do you want to stay at the school? If you like, you could start as my assistant. With your talent, it won’t be long before you secure a permanent professor position.”

Qu Xia was still worried about graduating, while he had already reached the professor’s threshold.

Qu Xia shook his head. “I have a place I want to go.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to stay with Sylph. On the contrary, he liked this professor very much. The only problem was that his secondary awakening was approaching.

If he stayed, his identity as a male zerg would be revealed.