SZAR Chapter 43

Nuo Wei froze.

He still stared at the window, unmoving, hesitant and disbelieving. His fingers clutched the bedsheet, pressing the blanket into deep, uneven folds.

Chu Ci didn’t move either. He stayed by the door, maintaining his previous posture, his expression cold as ice, his whole body like a weathered sculpture.

After a long while, Nuo Wei mechanically turned his face, letting his gaze rest on the heavy iron door. His lips quivered slightly, but he didn’t speak a word.

He remained silent, and Chu Ci stayed there with him, waiting, until Nuo Wei finally stood up and gently pressed his hand against the door.

Chu Ci pressed his hand against the other side, still unmoving.

Six months apart, separated by a cold iron door, their palms met tightly.

Nuo Wei felt as if he were falling through a dream. His sleep was restless, his mental turmoil giving him a splitting headache. Fragmented images flipped through his mind, blurring dream and reality. He lowered his eyes and murmured dreamily: “…Male Lord.”

“…Is this a dream?”

Chu Ci yanked open the door. The old hinges creaked, almost hitting the medical staff waiting nearby. He barged into Nuo Wei’s room, slammed the door shut behind him, his face expressionless and cold. In Nuo Wei’s startled eyes, he grabbed his female monarchs’s shoulders and pulled him into his arms, tightening the embrace.

Chu Ci’s movements were impatient and rough, as if confirming a lost treasure had been found. His left arm wrapped around Nuo Wei’s shoulders, holding him still; his right hand pressed the back of his head against his shoulder. Their chests were pressed tightly together, forming an inseparable, intimate hug.

It was tight. Forceful. So tight that bones ached, stiff with pressure.

But Nuo Wei felt safe.

It was strange. Usually, the male is the most unstable factor, the one who leaves the female battered and insecure. Chu Ci’s movements were far from gentle; he teetered on the edge of anger, right at that critical point where a single spark could set him off, the very moment when a female would normally be most fearful.

Yet in that pain, Nuo Wei felt a long-lost sense of security.

He reached out and hugged Chu Ci back, pressing his face against him again and again. The ache in his chest nearly burst outward. He clung to Chu Ci as if drawing some strength from him, his eyes growing a little red along with the flush in his heart.

When no one cares, maintaining a calm expression isn’t difficult. But once embraced, these tiny, suppressed emotions became impossible to hold back, gathering like a surging mountain flood.

Aliens, humans, all living beings; this is how they are.

Nuo Wei was no different.

He rubbed his eyes hard with the back of his hand. The quiet, taciturn major wasn’t skilled at handling these embarrassing emotions, so he buried himself against the male, unwilling to speak.

Chu Ci gently pulled him out, pushed him to sit on the bed, and lifted his face to look: “Let me see?”

He traced Nuo Wei’s reddened eyes with his fingers, both pained and amused, and finally kissed lightly on them: “Hurting yourself this badly, hmm?”

Nuo Wei shook his head.

He felt ashamed. Female soldiers were known for their composure, maintaining dignity even under the harshest whip from a male. Yet in front of Chu Ci, he repeatedly lost control.

He pushed on Chu Ci’s shoulder, hoping he would turn away or leave, giving him a moment to gather the overflow of emotions and avoid acting out further.

But when Chu Ci actually stood and left, Nuo Wei felt empty and miserable, his already overflowing emotions spilling even more.

This tug-of-war between relief and ache was unbearable. Nuo Wei wiped his eyes again and heard Chu Ci sigh.

The male returned, holding an ointment. Because Nuo Wei was trapped in the chaos of his mental sea, his healing ability was largely suppressed. Chu Ci cupped Nuo Wei’s face to keep him still, then carefully dabbed the ointment on the corner of his eyes with a cotton swab.

“Stop rubbing, you silly thing. You trying to turn into a rabbit?”

The ointment was icy-cool. The skin around the eyes was delicate, and the swab made it a little itchy.

For a female soldier, treating such a tiny, insignificant wound was normally absurd. Nuo Wei lowered his gaze and said, “It’ll be fine by tomorrow. No need to bother with it.”

Chu Ci ignored his refusal and continued applying the ointment, teasing, “Can you have a bit of self-awareness, Nuo Wei? You’re the female monarch of an A-rank male. I rushed here from the main planet for you. All the medics outside are watching, and you want to ruin your face?”

Hearing this tease, Nuo Wei pressed his lips together, almost frozen in place.

He was very pale. His normal complexion was like warm jade, but now, injured and having lost much blood, he looked even more drained.

“There’s no need for you to have come,” he said.

Chu Ci paused, ointment in hand.

He actually wanted to get angry, to scold him or just drag Nuo Wei to the bed and give him a proper scolding to stop him from saying irritating things the moment they met.

But Nuo Wei was too badly hurt. Chu Ci couldn’t get angry. He put the ointment away in the drawer and muttered, “Why shouldn’t I have come?”

“You should know… my rank has fallen,” Nuo Wei said.

He had avoided mentioning this in the light brain messages, but now it had to be said openly.

Rank fallen, military power cut, considered a suspect; he might even face imprisonment.

He didn’t reveal everything, only that his rank had fallen, leaving a sliver of dignity.

The zerg species was warlike. Rank determined combat strength and reproductive ability, and almost everything was tied to rank: military title, honor, status, even… whether to yield to a male.

A B-rank female could never properly hold the position of the female monarch of an A-rank male.

Maintaining a calm tone, Nuo Wei said, “The Male Zerg Protection Association should have contacted you already. I don’t qualify. I will request to be demoted to a female attendant. They should have prepared a list for you, filled with suitable females.”

Chu Ci turned his back to him, suddenly seeming very interested in tidying the medicine kit. He stacked and tipped over the items like playing with Lego and said, “Hmm, continue.”

Just saying the previous lines had already drained Nuo Wei of his courage, but since Chu Ci wanted him to go on, he gripped the bedsheet and tried to speak calmly: “You are handsome and rich, young and capable, gentle and meticulous. No female would ever refuse to be your female monarch…”

He swallowed back a sob, then continued, “You can take your time choosing from the list until you find one you are satisfied with.”

Chu Ci gave an acknowledging hum, then suddenly asked, “And you?”

Nuo Wei was caught off guard by the question, pausing briefly. “What?”

Chu Ci stood and looked at him, his amber eyes deep and shadowed. “No female would ever refuse to be my female monarch. But you—would you be my female monarch?”

Nuo Wei gave a faint, bitter smile. “You must be joking.”

Chu Ci went back to organizing the medicine kit, keeping his hands busy so he could restrain the urge to grab Nuo Wei and shake him.

He pressed, “Do you think the reason I married you was because of your wealth, rank, or military title?”

It was such an obvious question that Nuo Wei didn’t even think before nodding. “Of course.”

Chu Ci went point by point, examining him. “Among the females who submitted marriage reports to me, you were not the wealthiest; many heirs of other conglomerates were on my candidate list. As for rank, S-level males are rare, but A-level males are even rarer. If I wanted, I could have chosen from many S-levels. And I never used your rank as a Major General to assert power; even Secretary Lin, who used to be your subordinate, only came to my attention after I established contact with Stellar Group. So why would you think I married you for these reasons?”

Nuo Wei fell silent.

Wealth, rank, military title; these were Nuo Wei’s most presentable qualities. If Chu Ci didn’t need any of these, then what could he offer?

Chu Ci couldn’t hold back. He shoved the medicine kit aside, lunged, and pinned Nuo Wei to the bed. He grabbed his cheek, rapped twice on his head, teeth clenched, and growled, “Because you’re a beautiful, silly idiot!”

During the time Nuo Wei had been absent, Chu Ci had gone over their past repeatedly. Even though they were young lovers, separated and unreachable, the signal on this barren planet was so bad he suspected the server was powered by Apple, making video impossible. Chu Ci had been reduced to acting like a grumpy old man, scrolling through the “photo album” every day, reminiscing about his “partner.”

And it was during these memories that he recalled the first time he saw Nuo Wei in this life.

Chu Ci had just come of age, recently out of the orphanage, a little spoiled but not yet burdened by bad habits. Chu Ci flipped through the photos the Male Zerg Protection Association had sent him, one by one, and found them dull.

So many candidates, all with similar ranks, wealth just numbers, military titles little marks on a sheet. Chu Ci went through the photos, every female forced a fake smile: some nervous but pretending restraint, some stretching their lips to appear cheerful. One photo after another, each trying to signal to the males, “I’m well-bred,” “I’m lively and happy,” “I’m diligent and frugal.” Chu Ci even suspected their smiles were manufactured at a fixed angle, mouths copied and pasted onto each picture.

Until he saw Nuo Wei.

A beautiful female with empty eyes, lips pressed lightly together, awkward and unsure.

Chu Ci thought at the time: “This is truly a silly little bug.”

All the other females knew how to disguise themselves, at least in photos sent to males. But this one sent a plain, unadorned photo. What male would like such a dull, wooden female?

Chu Ci would. He thought it was adorable.

No pretense, no affectation, no disguise; just a calm gaze at the camera. Chu Ci found it irresistibly cute: the silver-white hair, the cyan eyes, even the slight helplessness in the gaze. He barely considered the other candidates and immediately chose “yes.”

Throughout that entire process, he didn’t check Nuo Wei’s rank, wealth, or military title.

For a male born with everything, those things didn’t matter.

At that time, Chu Ci hadn’t yet remembered anything about humanity. He had chosen Nuo Wei purely by instinct. And as it turned out, instinct was a better guide than all the tangled considerations of wealth, rank, and status. Even after months of interacting with Nuo Wei while fully conscious, with human-like calm and restraint instead of willfulness and ego of a male zerg, Chu Ci still found him irresistibly cute.

The stunned look was cute, the silent look was cute, even the stubborn look was cute.

Cute enough that he wanted to wrap Nuo Wei up, until the dazed expression turned into shyness, the silence into grievance, and the stubbornness into breaths that couldn’t be held back between lips.

What Chu Ci had thought would be a marriage first, love later, was actually love at first sight long ago, already written in the stars.

When Chu Ci had gritted his teeth and pinned him to the bed in that angry display, Nuo Wei looked at him, slightly at a loss.

“Because you’re a beautiful, silly idiot”— just fourteen characters in Chinese, but only the “beautiful” part could barely be considered a compliment. “Silly” and “idiot” hardly sounded flattering.

Would a male want to marry a female just because she’s “silly” or an “idiot”?

Obviously not.

His cyan eyes stubbornly fixed on Chu Ci, silently demanding an explanation.

Chu Ci didn’t want to give one, because this kind of thing can’t be explained. Nuo Wei had been suppressed too much by the rules of the zerg society; he seemed to think that only by meeting some standard could he hope to win a male’s favor. But love doesn’t follow standards.

Some people love cilantro, others can’t eat even a pinch. Some only eat five-nut mooncakes, others go crazy at the taste.

There were plenty of males who didn’t like Nuo Wei, thinking him wooden, cold, and boring, but Chu Ci liked him. Out of thousands of photos, he picked Nuo Wei at a glance. Liking someone like this, there’s really no reason needed.

He stayed silent for a long time, so Nuo Wei tilted his head down and spoke first: “I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Chu Ci pinched his chin with one hand, pressed him against the edge of the bed, straightened his face, and then bit down on his parted lips.

Nuo Wei went completely silent in an instant.

Sure enough, if you wanted this silly idiot’s mouth to stop saying irritating things, you had to physically shut it.

Six months apart had made the male’s pheromones overpower everything. The major general had no choice but to endure Chu Ci’s kiss. His long neck craned up high, he felt dizzy, and his words dissolved into muffled breaths. His collapsing mental sea gradually stabilized under the male’s careful guidance, not fully restored, but just enough to stop the downward spiral.

The male had already mastered the method of “punishing” his female, yet he stopped at the last moment, leaving Nuo Wei suspended between anticipation and restraint. Nuo Wei opened his watery eyes, half-collapsed, reaching up to wrap his arms around Chu Ci’s neck.

They had been apart for so many days and nights. Nuo Wei missed Chu Ci terribly, his mind missed him, his mental sea missed him, even everywhere else missed him. Previously, he could suppress his emotions and debate with Chu Ci about “marrying an attendant,” “changing a female,” “rank dropping,” but now, he could think of nothing else. He just wanted to press tightly against the male, drowning in his embrace.

Chu Ci pushed his hands away, growling: “Don’t hug me. Did I tell you to hug me?”

Nuo Wei looked at him, a little hurt in his eyes.

Chu Ci was stern on the outside but soft inside. He wanted to pull the silly idiot into his arms and soothe him, but some things left unresolved were ticking time bombs. He kept his cold expression, struggling to maintain control, and asked: “Do you really want me to change my female?”

Nuo Wei’s mind was foggy, staring at Chu Ci’s moving lips, ready to blurt out nonsense.

Chu Ci shifted slightly, forcing him to swallow back the words, then leaned close and whispered in his ear: “Think carefully before you speak.”

His voice was low, repressed, and threatening: “If I change my female, do you know what will happen?”

Nuo Wei’s cyan eyes turned to him, as if processing what Chu Ci was saying, looking dazed and obedient, like a cat waiting to be petted.

Chu Ci steeled himself and listed it one by one: “If I change my female, your villa will have someone else move in, San San will have another female, I’ll kick you out of your room for someone else, you’ll never sleep with me again, never wrap your arms around my neck. You’ll have to sleep in the storage room on the first floor, and you won’t even have it to yourself. Later, I’ll marry seventy or eighty other females; they’ll all squeeze into the storage room with you. And no matter what state your mental sea collapses into, I won’t care anymore!”

For Chu Ci, this was already a severe threat. any stronger and he wouldn’t even be able to speak it, but for a female of the zerg race, it was just a normal matter.

Nuo Wei froze, so numb he didn’t even notice the discomfort in his body. Chu Ci thought he was finally going to say “no,” but Nuo Wei lingered, hesitated, tried to speak a few times, and then turned his face away, murmuring softly: “It should be this way.”

Chu Ci felt like his lungs were going to explode.

He cursed silently in his head: This stubborn idiot, this rigid fool who can’t bend, this mouthless blockhead who only knows how to piss me off every day!

Chu Ci reached a tipping point of frustration. If he stayed any longer, he feared he would say something irrevocable. So he stepped away abruptly, leaving the last little task unfinished, grabbed the coat at the head of the bed, and started fastening the belt.

Nuo Wei’s fingers twitched, brushing along Chu Ci’s waist, half a gesture of dependence, half a silent plea, but ultimately he did nothing and let his hands drop to his side.

Chu Ci’s irritation boiled over. He fastened two buttons wrong, roughly secured the last button, yanked the belt tight, and slammed the door open with a bang. He tapped a message to the assistant: “Come get me.”

Nuo Wei didn’t move.

If he were a thoughtful, perfect female, he would have immediately risen, taken the male’s coat, fastened it properly, and politely seen him out.

But Nuo Wei didn’t move.

He curled up on the small hospital bed, frontline resources were scarce, so the bed was a thin, hard cot. He lay on his side, half his face buried in the not-so-soft pillow, even his breathing soft and shallow.

Chu Ci had already stepped into the corridor. His long boots creaked on the floor. For some reason, he glanced back.

The cramped room held an old incandescent lamp, its pale, harsh light like an experiment table or an interrogation lamp. The walls were bare concrete, the same dull tone as the tiny patch of sky outside.

The blanket covering Nuo Wei was equally pallid; washed and rewashed, matted, and worn thin. He slept on a rusted, chipped iron frame, dark gray and filthy, even darker than the sky outside.

Amid all this bleakness, Nuo Wei’s beautiful silver hair seemed dull, and the whole scene felt gray, worn, and broken.

Chu Ci stopped in his tracks.

His brows knitted tighter and tighter, forming deep furrows.

He thought: This isn’t right. It shouldn’t be like this.

Even if Nuo Wei had grown somewhat cold, somewhat dull, he had never been like this. His silver hair should shine like moonlight, his cyan eyes should be strong and steadfast like pine trees, not lying on this hospital bed like a withered, dead tree.

Chu Ci sighed.

His anger felt doused with a bucket of cold water; he simply couldn’t get mad anymore.

Facing this Nuo Wei, this pale, fragile, almost-dead-like Nuo Wei, how could he possibly be angry?

He pulled out his phone and told the assistant, they didn’t need to come, then quietly tiptoed back.

Nuo Wei’s mind was a tangled mess, his senses dulled. He lay on his side, buried in the blanket, making no sound, completely unaware of Chu Ci’s approach.

Chu Ci reached out and wiped Nuo Wei’s eyes from behind.

They were wet.

This insect’s emotions were so restrained that even his tears fell silently.

Chu Ci climbed onto the bed and held Nuo Wei from behind, rubbing his long hair. He bent down to kiss his cheek, then the reddened corner of his eye. The ointment he had just applied was ruined; he’d have to reapply it all over again.

He rested his chin atop Nuo Wei’s head, forming an enveloping embrace. “You really don’t want this too, do you?”

He didn’t want to be demoted, didn’t want to be replaced, and didn’t even want Chu Ci to step outside this door.

But why wouldn’t he say so?

Nuo Wei was held close, his head resting on Chu Ci’s arm, and he spoke softly: “Have you looked at my medical chart?”

Chu Ci hummed in acknowledgment.

It was right there, he had flipped through it.

Nuo Wei continued: “Have you ever added up the numbers for all those costs?”

Chu Ci hadn’t. Ever since coming to the zerg world, he barely paid attention to the finances.

Nuo Wei said again: “I am a defeated general. My uncle, Admiral Erwen, is considered a traitor, and I have countless connections to him.”

“All the First Army’s direct subordinates, myself, Lin En, and officers of all ranks, will face collective judgment.”

“If the investigation yields no result, I will submit to the Central lie detector’s verdict. After that, I won’t even retain a B-rank.”

Chu Ci tightened his embrace around him, silent.

Nuo Wei continued: “Before you came, I also did an interview with the reporters.”

“My reputation on StarNet is terrible. I’m a traitor, a lackey of the enemy.”

“There’s a poll on QuQi’s site – 97% of the females think I’m guilty, 46% think I should be exiled to a barren planet, 32% demand I be executed immediately.”

His tone was completely calm, but the hands hidden in the blanket shook uncontrollably. Nuo Wei didn’t want to place these bloody truths directly in front of Chu Ci. The so-called “fallen rank, unfit to be your female monarch” was nothing more than a glaring fig leaf, meant to preserve the last shred of dignity before the male.

Compared with all these sharp, knife-like, brutal facts, a rank drop was nothing.

But now, he had no choice but to point this knife at himself, to open it all up, to show Chu Ci these rotten, pus-filled wounds.

He said, “I can’t be your female monarch anymore. In every sense, I’m unworthy. I’d only bring ridicule upon you.”

This foolish insect didn’t realize how pitiful he looked, eyes lowered, while pretending to speak calmly.

Chu Ci slipped his hand into Nuo Wei’s trembling one, fingers interlacing: “You won’t.”

He turned his female monarch over, held him close against his chest, and patted his back gently, like comforting a hurt little insect.

“They think you’re a traitor, but I know you’re not.”

“I can pay for the treatment. You should see how rich I am now.”

Chu Ci put the light-brain device in front of him. Since the last second test, his stocks had skyrocketed, and with Yi Xi’s additional private investment, Chu Ci’s wealth was now roughly equal to what Nuo Wei had gifted him before.

He leaned in and kissed Nuo Wei, gentle and soft, as if holding a precious treasure: “I don’t care if you’re S, A, B, C, D. I don’t care at all.”

“I also don’t care what the people on StarNet think, or if they would mock me.”

Nuo Wei looked at him, cyan eyes full of doubt.

If the male don’t care, then what does he care about?

Chu Ci’s heart ached with every beat, as if his very lungs would shatter. If he hadn’t come, how would this beautiful, foolish insect survive these painful days? He held his partner tightly, voice low, tender, and warm: “I care about you, Nuo Wei. I care about what you think.”

“Do you want me to change female monarch, to marry a female attendant, to let go of your hand and hold someone else’s?”

Chu Ci’s voice was deep, compelling, almost like a demon tempting an innocent into the abyss. He pressed close to Nuo Wei’s ear, asking over and over: “Do you want that?”

In Nuo Wei’s upbringing, a female couldn’t say ‘I don’t want that’ to her male. They weren’t supposed to be so self-willed, weren’t supposed to resist the male’s wishes. Maybe Nuo Wei hadn’t always been so cautious, but day after day of hurt had turned the scars on his heart into armor, as if only by following the rules could he avoid injuries that came from nowhere.

But Chu Ci wanted to strip away that armor.

He wanted to dig out the old rot, drain the accumulated pus, let the scabbed wounds heal anew. He wanted to pull the female out of that safe armor and point to the sunlight and rain outside, saying, “See? Saying ‘I don’t want’ or ‘No’ isn’t so terrible.”

Chu Ci asked again: “Do you want that?”

Nuo Wei seemed to collapse. He had gone through so much, his mental sea already in chaos, and even when finally exposed to Chu Ci’s pheromones, he couldn’t finish the last step. He pressed his forehead against Chu Ci’s chest, shaking his head violently, repeating, “No, no, don’t…”

Chu Ci soothed him, rubbing his back, softly asking, “Don’t what? Say it.”

“Don’t marry a female attendant…”

Chu Ci nodded: “Mm, I won’t.”

“Don’t replace your female monarch…”

Chu Ci nodded: “Mm, I won’t.”

“Don’t let go of my hand…”

Chu Ci held his hand tightly, fingers interlaced: “Mm, I’ve got you.”

He made a solemn promise, as if swearing an unbreakable oath: “I won’t marry a female attendant, won’t replace my female monarch, and I won’t let go of your hand until my last day.”

……………..

Nuo Wei, utterly exhausted, felt more drained than after ten interrogations. Finally, leaning on Chu Ci’s shoulder, he fell into a deep sleep.

Ever since Admiral Erwen’s incident, Nuo Wei often had nightmares, sometimes lasting hours, waking drenched in cold sweat.

He would sometimes dream of the cold torture chair, of the massive lie detector in the central interrogation room, with all its magnetic patches and metal tubes, but this time, he slept peacefully.

He rested his head in Chu Ci’s arms. The male’s pheromones lingered around him, reminding him of that lazy sofa on the distant home planet and the scent of peach-scented detergent.

Chu Ci didn’t want to check StarNet. The flood of news about the defeat depressed him, and though the truth on this barren star hadn’t been revealed yet, the public was already quick to condemn Admiral Erwen and by association, Nuo Wei. They belittled Nuo Wei’s past achievements and questioned whether he’d used Erwen’s influence to sneak into the military.

They even brought up Nuo Wei’s time in the correctional facility, expressing regret: ⟬ Why didn’t that traitor die there? ⟭

The correctional facility was a nightmare for every female zerg, a place that shouldn’t exist; but before the truth was fully known, countless females still viciously cursed their peers, venting their anger freely.

Some nosy onlookers dug up Chu Ci’s old social accounts, tagging him in comments. The slightly more polite ones urged him to throw Nuo Wei out, while others egged him on to whip and punish Nuo Wei, then post videos online.

They offered “tips”: ⟬ Strike the wings again, that really hurts. ⟭

⟬ Hit the wing sacs, better to use the whip’s tail, those wounds heal slowly. ⟭

⟬ Hehe, the females recover so fast, make sure he wears a suppression ring! ⟭

Chu Ci lowered his gaze at Nuo Wei still in his arms. The beautiful female had grown thinner, his face pale, yet he was still lovely. Sleeping quietly, he looked obedient and fragile, like a noble ragdoll. Chu Ci’s heart ached even at the slightest movement, let alone using a whip’s tail on him.

He blocked all those troublemakers with one click and disabled comments on the post.

Still, the online chatter was only a small fraction. The expedition’s sudden failure drew everyone’s attention. Chu Ci stayed in the ward for two hours, hearing countless medical staff discuss it, which irritated him. He opened the light brain and shut it again, eventually pulling up a game he had long stopped playing.

《Space War》

This so-called Male Zerg Mental Power Test Special Edition game was a ridiculously boring single-player game with a strong old-school arcade vibe from the ’80s. Chu Ci usually quit at 8,000 points, but in his current restless state, it was perfect for killing time.

He played casually, dying and restarting, finally scraping close to 9,800 points. Just as he was about to hit 10,000, a pop-up ad appeared on the interface.

⟬ Pamir Star Flea Market! Every Saturday at 3 PM, everyone is welcome to come and shop. ⟭

Although this planet was small and rundown, it still had residents. Because transportation was difficult and supplies were scarce, many local places still kept the good old tradition of bartering.

Chu Ci put on his coat, thinking he might be able to snag a couple of green plants.

That glance back at Nuo Wei had startled him enough. The sky was gray-white, the room was gray-white, and Nuo Wei curled up in the bed was gray-white too, like a lifeless tree stripped of its vitality.

A room so dead and dreary obviously wasn’t good for recovery. Who could feel cheerful facing a pitch-black room like that?

But Nuo Wei still needed treatment, and the military had blocked off the place completely. They couldn’t change rooms, so getting a couple of potted plants to liven things up seemed like the next best thing.

Chu Ci decided to check out this so-called flea market. He wrapped the insect-patterned scarf around himself and followed the drone from earlier using its locator. To his surprise, the market was fairly lively.

Pamir didn’t have many residents, and the flea market was held only about once a month, more like a town fair. Chu Ci wandered through it and was unexpectedly drawn to a splash of apple green.

It was a lazy sofa, seven layers similar to the one in Chu Ci’s warehouse.

He had previously dismissed the apple green color because it clashed with his elegant home decor, swapping it for a silver-white one that matched Nuo Wei’s hair. Rubbing the couch felt like stroking Nuo Wei’s hair. But now, seeing that bright color, Chu Ci felt almost alive again.

Even though he had only been away a day, he already missed the little house on the main planet.

He negotiated the price with the vendor, quickly snapped it up, and also picked out two potted flowers and a few rugs, all in cheerful, bright colors. With a flourish of his hand, he asked the seller to pack them onto the flying vehicle.

The seller handled most of the transportation, leaving Chu Ci to carry only the two rugs. He hooked two fingers under them from inside his coat and suddenly caught a very peculiar scent.

Pamir Star was shrouded in clouds and rain all year, never seeing the sun. The market was crowded, filled with the damp smell of clothes air-drying, but this subtle, unusual scent immediately caught Chu Ci’s attention.

The smell was about 70% like Nuo Wei.

Male zergs were extremely sensitive to pheromones, especially those of females they had marked. This scent truly shared the same source as Nuo Wei’s but with slight differences. If Nuo Wei was like a mountain after a first rain, this scent was richer, enduring, giving a sense of ‘as stable as a mountain despite wind and rain’.

Chu Ci frowned, analyzing for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of insight and seized the clue.

Erwen!

The scent was 70% like Nuo Wei’s, but 90% like Admiral Erwen’s!

How could the pheromone of this missing Imperial Admiral appear at a flea market on an desolate planet?

Erwen was now the eye of the typhoon, the convergence point of all storms. Once found, all mysteries would be solved.

Chu Ci tossed the carpet he was holding to the vendor with a command: “Please deliver it to the third white flying vehicle on the right.” Then he pushed through the crowd and dashed toward the source of the scent.

The smell in Pamir’s flea market was generally bad, so this subtle scent was even harder to detect. Seeing his target about to disappear, Chu Ci made a sudden sprint, reaching out through a stall and grabbing the cloak of the person ahead: “Wait a moment!”

The young man Chu Ci had grabbed turned around, tugged his cloak back, pushed up his glasses, and said, displeased, “Sir?”

He was slim, with fine features but heavy dark circles under his eyes. Combined with an old-fashioned pair of glasses and a perpetually sleepy expression, he reminded Chu Ci of a top student from Qingbei¹ in a past life.

Chu Ci lowered his gaze toward the source of the scent.

It was… an egg.

The young man was holding a soft blanket-wrapped egg in his arms, and the pheromone scent was coming from the egg itself.

Chu Ci froze.

The scent was so faint, of course it wasn’t Admiral Erwen himself. Chu Ci guessed it might be something the admiral had left behind, like a personal item, a belt, or even part of his uniform. He could probably estimate when Erwen had “defected” based on the pheromone residue. If it were for sale, he might even buy it.

But an egg?

Chu Ci asked, “Sir… this egg?”

The young man looked at him expressionlessly. That’s when Chu Ci noticed a tear mole under his dark circle, partly hidden by the thick frames of his glasses, faint but striking.

He held the egg up: “I found this egg. It seems close to hatching. With no parents, I picked it up to raise it…”

Before he finished speaking, the egg trembled violently.

The young man extended a hand, mercilessly suppressing the egg’s small struggle. He held it out toward Chu Ci, trying to let the eggshell touch his fingers: “Will you help me raise it?”

“No, no, no…”

Just thinking of where this egg might have come from made Chu Ci feel like he was holding something hot. He pulled his hand back quickly: “No need.”

“Where did you find it?”

“Oh.” The young man slowly extended a hand and pointed in a direction. “Go 50 kilometers at a 45 degree angle southeast. There’s an abandoned house there.”

Chu Ci said, “Thank you.”

The young man nodded, holding the egg, and left, leaving only his back in view.

Chu Ci watched him disappear at the edge of his sight, then turned and jumped onto his aircraft, planning to fly to the place the young man indicated to take a look. But suddenly, he remembered something and froze mid-grip on the controls.

Damn it, when he grabbed the young man’s cloak earlier, there were no insect markings on the back of his neck.

That was a male!

A male holding an egg that carried Erwen’s scent!