The light-brain dinged, but Chu Xiu ignored it. He finished mixing the last cocktail, pushed it toward the customer, wearing his professional smile: “Hope you enjoy it.”
Kevin peeked out from the back: “Cointreau, it’s past six. You still not off work?”
Chu Xiu put the items on the table back in order: “Okay.”
He was tidying the bottles when Kevin slid out from the back to take over, winking and nudging: “How was that guest this afternoon?” He pointed toward the door: “I saw you chase after him.”
Chu Xiu’s hand paused slightly on the bottle, then he said: “It was fine.”
Kevin patted him and sighed, like a veteran guiding a rookie fresh out of training: “Take it easy. Don’t get into any traps. You’re just here to earn your tuition. don’t get involved with these people.”
He sounded like someone who had seen it all: “You’re young, haven’t seen much. Who in their right mind comes to a bar to harass a bartender? Looks fancy, huh? But it’s all glitter on the outside, rot on the inside. You never know what tricks they’re up to.”
Chu Xiu hummed absentmindedly.
He thought: Yi Xi didn’t harass him. He just threw two million at him, patted his head, and told him to study well.
Kevin raised an eyebrow: “Still don’t believe me, huh? I’m telling you, among the upper class, same-sex female pairings happen a lot. They have the money for hormone injections to manage it, but you can’t mess around like that. Otherwise, if the person plays and you can’t find a male master, the mental sea riots, and death is the only way out. Got it?”
Chu Xiu’s brows twitched: “Got it.”
This was the first time he’d heard from someone else about how this world differed from the human world. Though there were hints on StarNet, they were treated as assumed knowledge, never explained, just like human websites don’t explicitly tell you there are male and female humans, the insect world doesn’t openly mention sexes either.
He asked subtly: “If they take hormone injections, will it affect the child?”
“Of course,” Kevin said. “The eggs have to come out of their bodies. But if they’re going for female–female relationships, then there won’t be any children anyway.”
Chu Xiu nodded.
Linking this with what Yi Xi had asked earlier about female father and male father, Chu Xiu realized that in this world there were no women, only two sexes, male and female. The female zergs were responsible for bearing offspring, and the young were born from eggs rather than live birth.
He placed the sparkling clean glass back onto the rack and waved goodbye to Kevin. Kevin leaned against the back counter and reminded him again and again: “Remember! Don’t throw yourself at them, stay away from those big shots!”
Chu Xiu nodded obediently.
Then he stepped outside and opened his light-brain. When he saw Yi Xi’s friend request, he couldn’t help but smile a little.
Flying vehicles came and went on the street, though not every insect could afford one. Fortunately, the capital planet had a very developed public transportation system. Chu Xiu boarded a hovering tram and began looking up information on his light-brain during the ride.
He hadn’t fully grown yet, but he was good-looking and well-proportioned. The suit didn’t quite fit him, yet it still outlined his slim waist and long legs. Quite a few passersby secretly glanced at him. Seeing Chu Xiu staring intently at his personal terminal with his brows slightly furrowed, they couldn’t help but grow curious.
What was this clean and handsome young man reading?
Chu Xiu was reading 《What Do You Call Your Female Father’s Female Father?》
He had opened the parenting textbook section on his light -brain and was carefully studying a learning book meant for children aged two to six.
From the textbook, he roughly learned about the male–female system of the zerg race, as well as pheromones, heat cycles, and many other things that were different from the human race. Among them, what caught his attention the most was the division between male and female zergs. Before the second awakening, the difference between the two was not very obvious, and neither had pheromones. Female zergs only had a faint insect marking at the back of their neck, while male insects had nothing there at all.
Chu Xiu encountered the biggest confusion he had faced since coming to the zerg race. Was he male or female?
It seemed that male zergs held a higher social status, yet female zergs controlled the military and political power. At the same time, the pheromones of male zergs could restrain female zergs in return. Chu Xiu closed his light-brain, planning to return to the hospital to check for himself.
When he got back to his hospital bed, he carefully brushed aside the hair at the back of his neck and snapped a photo with his light-brain.
The back of his neck was completely smooth.
Chu Xiu let out a small sigh of relief.
He had only just arrived here and knew almost nothing about the social structure of the zerg race. He also had no idea what kind of social benefits male zergs enjoyed. He simply felt that if he and Yi Xi counted as “opposite sexes,” it might make certain goals easier to achieve.
Chu Xiu was completely and thoroughly gay. The bar he had worked at in his previous life was also a gay bar. But someone like Yi Xi, with such a refined and upright temperament, would probably seem like a straight man if he were in the human world, specifically the kind of straight man with a gentle wife and a house full of children.
But now he had become a male, and males seemed to be a little more precious than females. In that case, perhaps he could pursue Yi Xi openly and properly.
Chu Xiu felt lightheaded. He fell backward onto the hospital bed, covered his face with a pillow, looking just like a young boy who had just discovered love.
Half an hour after Chu Xiu returned, the medical staff came in to perform the routine check. As soon as they finished, they quickly slipped out of the room, unwilling to stay in Chu Xiu’s room for even one extra second. Chu Xiu happily enjoyed the quiet. He opened his light-brain and checked his friend requests, scrolling back and forth and staring at it for quite a while.
Yi Xi had sent him a friend request. The big shot’s avatar was the default one, very low-key. Chu Xiu had not approved it yet. He glanced again at his own username and suddenly felt like dying.
The original owner of this body had used the name @LoveNotForMe written in messy stylized characters, and the avatar was a colorful exploding sea-urchin.
In his previous life, when Chu Xiu worked as an escort bartender, no bartender would dare to use such an idiotic name or such a ridiculous avatar. The shift manager would send him for an “aesthetic correction” the very next day.
He deleted the name and changed it to @Cointreau. Then he paused at the avatar section, unsure what to replace it with.
In his previous life, Cointreau used his own photo as the avatar, a noble young man with peach-blossom eyes, holding a deep blue cocktail glass while lowering his head to mix drinks. The atmosphere was lazy and dreamy, and many people loved that style. But clearly, copying that style from his previous life would not work now.
He stood in front of the mirror and lightly fixed his hair, making the top look a bit fluffier. Then he looked around the hospital room and pulled a sunflower from the flower basket on the bedside table. He set his light-brain to automatic photo mode and placed it on top of the wardrobe.
Then he stepped back, stood by the window, tilted his head, and smiled as the camera snapped more than a dozen pictures.
Chu Xiu enlarged them one by one to choose. In the end, he picked the one with the brightest smile and set it as his avatar.
Ding. Yi Xi received a notification that the friend request had been accepted.
He casually opened it and saw that it was Cointreau. This little kid had chosen such a mature username, as if he were some veteran of romantic affairs, yet the avatar was obedient and cute.
He was facing the camera against the light. The sunset behind him spread a warm orange glow, making the boy’s chestnut-colored hair look soft and fluffy.
Cointreau held a sunflower loosely in his arms, tilting his head and smiling sweetly. Yi Xi took one look, and the corners of his eyes and brows could not help but soften with a smile.
What an innocent and lively age.
He tapped into Cointreau’s chat window and asked, 【Did you get home?】
Chu Xiu had been racking his brain trying to think of a way to start a conversation with Yi Xi. He didn’t expect the other side to message first.
He weighed every word carefully, typing and deleting again and again. Heaven have mercy, back when Cointreau used to flirt with clients in his previous life, he had never been this serious. In the end, he sent a rather bland message: 【 Mm, I just got home. What about you? Have you gotten home? 】
Yi Xi replied, 【 I still have work. 】 Then he asked, 【 Is it enough to pay off your debt? 】
Chu Xiu said, 【 It’s enough.】
He felt a little guilty. Yi Xi was truly concerned about his future, yet Chu Xiu wasn’t a student at all.
Yi Xi’s cursor blinked.【 Good, as long as it’s enough. 】
He added, 【 I’m a bit busy, so I’ll go back to work first. 】
Chu Xiu wasn’t surprised in the least. The fact that Yi Xi was willing to spare time to exchange a few words with him was already enough to make him happy. In his previous life, many patrons treated hosts as people they could summon at will and dismiss at will. Yi Xi being willing to respond to him at all meant that Yi Xi at least had a positive impression of him.
He closed the chat window and was about to switch back to continue reading 《What Do You Call Your Female Father’s Female Father?》 when his light-brain suddenly vibrated. A special-attention notification popped up.
【 Xiao Xiu, come back to the old residence tonight. 】
Chu Xiu tapped it and saw the remark: [Male Father.]
“Oh.” He thought blankly, “So the original owner’s dad isn’t dead after all.”
His son had been severely injured and hospitalized, even undergoing an extremely expensive brain-nerve linking surgery. Anyone could tell he had been at death’s door. Yet his father hadn’t sent a single message for two days, nor had he mentioned coming home, just leaving his son to stay outside on his own.
Chu Xiu thought, “Damn it, he’s not even as good as my gambling addict dad.”
Scrolling down the contact list, besides that father, he also found several relatives, some uncles and such, but none of them had sent any messages either. Meanwhile, the cursor on Male Father’s side blinked again, and another message came through:
【Eight o’clock. Your Main Female Father will go pick you up. 】
Main female father… damn it, how many female fathers did the original owner even have?
From 《What Do You Call Your Female Father’s Female Father?》, it seemed that the male father usually didn’t handle family matters, and young cubs tended to be closer to their female father. However, Chu Xiu searched through the entire contact list and finally found the name Carey, his female father, at the very bottom.
If the original owner and his male father still exchanged a few words from time to time to maintain the appearance of a father-son relationship, then between him and his female father there was truly not a single word. Chu Xiu scrolled up through five years of chat history, yet the two of them didn’t have a single message between them, worse than strangers who had only met by chance.
Even Chu Xiu and his gambling addict dad didn’t have such a bizarre father-son relationship.
He paused for a moment, then replied: 【Okay.】
After all, the original owner’s family was someone he would eventually have to meet.
The agreed time was eight o’clock. There were still thirty minutes left, so Chu Xiu idly played with his light brain in the room. He opened the rankings for StarNet mini-games. The top-ranked one was a pet-raising game called 《Cloud-Raising Your Little Male Lord.》 Chu Xiu had long passed the age of watching electronic pets jump around and act cute. He scrolled down.
The second-ranked game was an action game called 《Space War.》
The game was old-fashioned and boring, but perfect for killing time. He tapped it and casually played two rounds, scoring five thousand points. The match wasn’t even finished yet when someone knocked on his door.
Then the door opened, and a black-haired man walked in. He wore a military-style uniform. His lips were cracked, dark circles hung under his eyes, and he gave Chu Xiu a slight nod.
“Young Master Xiu, I’ve come to take you to the old residence.”
It seemed this was his main female father.
A father calling his own son “Young Master” was truly a strange sight among the zerg race. The relationship between the original owner and his female father seemed very bad. Chu Xiu wasn’t sure what kind of expression he should show him, so he simply kept a cold face.
The man seemed a little afraid of him. He spoke hesitantly and followed behind him.
The two of them boarded the aircraft one after the other. Chu Xiu leaned back in the rear seat and pretended to sleep. The aircraft was set to automatic mode, so no operation was needed.
Carey sat quietly in the front seat without saying a word, like a mannequin placed there to watch the control panel.
It wasn’t until the speed of the flying vehicle automatically slowed, and the Chu family estate appeared at the end of the valley, framed by surrounding mountains, that Carey maneuvered the vehicle to hover midair. Then he shivered and looked back at Chu Xiu, hesitating: “Young Master Xiu, this matter was decided by the head of the family. I probably shouldn’t speak, but… about Yi Xi—”
Chu Xiu had been dozing off, and Carey’s words startled him awake almost instantly.
He shot upright in his seat, frowning. “What?”
Did the original owner of this body have some kind of omniscient family network? He’d only met Yi Xi this afternoon, and tonight he decided to pursue him. And now this female parent already knows exactly what he’s up to? Ready to interfere?
Carey flinched at Chu Xiu’s intense reaction, his hesitation deepening, but he still spoke politely: “Young Master Xiu, that matter… it wasn’t Yi Xi’s fault.”
Chu Xiu blinked. “?”
His brows were twisting into a sharp crease.
Carey decided to go all in. Closing his eyes to avoid reading Chu Xiu’s expression, he continued: “There are some… unsavory things involved. You probably don’t understand them now, but he truly isn’t at fault. And… his health isn’t good. After marriage, I still hope—”
Chu Xiu: “???”
His mind was filled with question marks. First, a father fell from the sky. Then a noble estate appeared out of nowhere. The original owner, a pauper with only 200 coins, suddenly became a young master. And now this female parent is here, talking about Yi Xi, everything Carey says is completely incomprehensible.
It seemed Carey had exhausted all his courage. He was silent for a moment, pressing his forehead against the flying vehicle, then forced out a smile: “No, it’s nothing. I’m just talking nonsense again. Just pretend I didn’t say anything.”
With that, he unfastened his seatbelt and leaned over to help Chu Xiu with his. Chu Xiu frowned. “Wait. What do you mean by ‘his health isn’t good’?”
When he met Yi Xi at the bar, the big boss had looked tired, yes, but everything else seemed normal. There didn’t seem to be any obvious illness.
Chu Xiu felt a vague, indescribable anxiety. He grabbed Carey’s hand. Carey hissed, his face stiffening, then lowered his gaze. “It’s nothing serious… I just heard he’s been in poor health since childhood.”
He tried slightly to pull his hand free, but Chu Xiu said firmly: “Don’t move.”
He pulled up Carey’s sleeve. His wrist was a mottled mix of blue and purple, like fresh marks left from a struggle.
Chu Xiu’s face darkened with anger.
Back when he first entered the industry in his previous life, there were people who did this. A colleague learning bartending alongside Chu Xiu had been desperate for money and went through it. When he came back, barely alive, Chu Xiu had to treat the wounds. He’d vomited all night. And since Chu Xiu never stayed overnight at work, it was hard to say that colleague hadn’t influenced him.
Peel back the human skin, and who knows what’s underneath, human or monster.
Carey tried to lower his sleeve, uneasy: “It’s nothing, just a small wound.”
If this counts as a small wound, then that colleague who made Chu Xiu vomit all night must have been ‘slightly injured’ too.
But Carey seemed used to it. He naturally rolled his sleeve back down, then bent over to help Chu Xiu unfasten his seatbelt: “We need to hurry. The head of the family must be getting impatient.”
Chu Xiu realized belatedly, this “head of the family” must be the original owner’s male father.
He followed Carey off the vehicle, and suddenly asked, “Who did this?”
Carey froze. “Huh?”
Chu Xiu suppressed his anger. “I mean these wounds on you, who did this?”
Carey fell silent.
And because he didn’t speak, Chu Xiu could guess almost immediately: nine times out of ten, it had to be the original owner’s male father.
Chu Xiu had read discussions online among female zergs about the brutality of males, but back then it was just words, he had no real sense of it. Now, seeing the injuries in person, he felt a sudden, sharp shock.
These things… are actually real?
He followed behind Carey in silence. Carey shrank back under the rare silence from a male zerg, and the two walked single file along the long corridor. Ahead, the ancient castle loomed in the dim light, like a crouching monster.
The Chu family seemed to be a substantial noble house. The castle sprawled across a vast estate, with countless rooms. Carey led Chu Xiu to one at the far end and knocked: “Master, the young master has arrived.”
“Mm.” A short, rough breath came from inside. Chu Xiu knew that sound too well, the kind of grunt emitted by a middle-aged, balding man during a certain physical activity. A wave of nausea swept over him. He then heard a faint whimper, seemingly done, followed by the rustle of clothing.
The door opened, and a pot-bellied man stepped out. He patted Chu Xiu’s head with a hand as large as a fan, squeezing a smile out of his meat-filled face: “Xiao Xiu, I know this time you’ve been wrong.”
He paused, muttering, “An older female attendant, at that age, no one wants him, I know that.”
Chu Xiu watched coldly.
The man seemed lost in acting out a fatherly, doting routine, sighing repeatedly: “But this female attendant, you will marry him whether you want to or not. Marry or marry, this is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity for the Chu family.”
“As compensation,” he continued, “I’ve carefully selected a few other female attendants to match your taste.” He draped an arm over Chu Xiu’s shoulder and led him inside. “After the wedding, you can find any excuse to wear down Yi Xi, he’s weak when sick, and a little trouble will finish him off. Then, you marry these female attendants, and maybe even set the one you like as the female monarch…”
The man reeked, and Chu Xiu felt nauseated. His thick, stubby fingers were laden with seven or eight rings, snagging Chu Xiu’s hair as he rubbed his scalp, causing sharp little pains.
Chu Xiu had grown up quickly and had poor relations with his father, almost no one had ever touched his head. Comparing this disgusting man to Yi Xi, he shuddered. The man’s hands were like cured pork, greasy, heavy, and unpleasant. A few strokes made Chu Xiu wish he could go home and wash his hair immediately. By contrast, Yi Xi’s touch was clean and gentle, tender as a spring breeze in Jiangnan1“Jiangnan” (江南) literally means “South of the Yangtze River” in China. It refers to a historical and cultural region along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, recalling water towns, oars, and the scent of tea houses. Simply placing this man alongside Yi Xi felt like an insult to Yi Xi.
The man kept rambling: “…Anyway, that’s the situation. So, Xiao Xiu, what do you think?”
Chu Xiu yanked his hand away and said coldly, “Not interested.”
All that fuss, all those reasons, all those female attendants; it didn’t matter. He just wanted to know one thing: What exactly was wrong with Yi Xi’s body?
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