By the time Ni Hong reached the prenatal classroom, Qin Zhen had already been inside for over two hours. His gaze was vacant, and he looked utterly soul-crushed.
“Brother Qin,” Ni Hong called out.
“Little Ni,” Qin Zhen’s eyes did not even twitch. “I am defiled.”
Ni Hong did not understand, but his intuition told him that it would be better to speak with Qin Zhen alone. He looked up at Leng Fei, who understood the signal and exited the room. Ni Hong closed the door and turned his wheelchair toward Qin Zhen.
“Brother Qin, what is wrong? I heard Peng Yunhan went into sudden labor and you were a huge help.”
“I am defiled,” Qin Zhen repeated.
“Defiled?”
“Do you know that battle beasts are born from the rear?”
“I know.”
“Then do you know that there is a small hole there? The hole inside is the birth canal, and past that canal is the incubation sac. It is a man’s incubation sac. A place where you can get pregnant and give birth.”
“Well, Brother Qin, do you think that because the birth canal is in the rear, dirt will get inside and make the sac unclean? It actually will not happen. There is a membrane outside the canal unless, unless” Ni Hong blushed. “Unless it is forced open, it cannot be opened from the outside in.”
“I am defiled,” Qin Zhen said, seemingly not listening at all. “I touched the place where another person can get pregnant. I am no longer pure. Dr. Lu”
His voice suddenly choked up, unable to continue. Ni Hong knew that Dr. Lu had been present during the incident. He assumed that Dr. Lu must have directed the injection of the sedative into the birth canal. Naturally, he misunderstood Qin Zhen’s point.
“Dr. Lu had no other choice. Brother Qin, do not blame her.”
Crystal-clear tears suddenly rolled down from Qin Zhen’s dull eyes. It was exactly because Dr. Lu was present that he felt defiled. To touch the place where another person can get pregnant right in front of the goddess of his dreams, how could he still claim to be chaste? Would his goddess ever forgive him or accept him in the future?
Meanwhile, in the delivery room, Peng Yunhan’s young beast was small, so there had been no bloody mess. The room still looked clean. The man on the delivery bed was somewhat pale, staring at the ceiling with a vacant gaze identical to Qin Zhen’s.
“Yunhan, Tang Siqing has been waiting outside for a long time,” Lu Yanqiu said.
“Do not let her in!” Peng Yunhan reacted reflexively, covering his head with a thin blanket. “Do not let her in.”
The tall man beneath the blanket actually began to sob. The midwife approached Lu Yanqiu and whispered, “Could it be postpartum depression?”
Lu Yanqiu shook her head gently. Postpartum depression was rare when gestating battle beasts, especially for someone like Peng Yunhan, whose pregnancy had lasted less than half a month. It was almost impossible. She asked the midwife to leave first and sat by the bed.
“Yunhan, it is only me here. I am your mentor. Can you tell me why you are feeling so down?”
“Teacher,” the voice from under the blanket was thick with nasal congestion. “I, I am defiled.”
“Defiled?”
“I, I let someone touch my incubation sac.”
“You mean Qin Zhen? But you were gestating a battle beast. It is inevitable for the birth canal to be touched. Even if it were not Qin Zhen, the doctors and nurses would have”
“That is different!” Peng Yunhan suddenly threw back the blanket, revealing a face covered in tears and snot. “Because it was Qin Zhen, that is why, why” He could not find the words to finish.
Lu Yanqiu patted his arm and smiled. “You just finished giving birth. It is normal to have emotional ups and downs. Once you calm down, you will realize that you should actually thank Qin Zhen. If he had not injected the sedative in time, it would have been difficult for you to make it to the delivery room to have the nurses clean the birth canal. You must understand that young beasts are extremely fragile at birth. Any bacteria could cause complications or even be fatal. Furthermore, you do not need to worry about the incubation sac.”
“First, you never had an incubation sac before; it was transplanted only to gestate the beast. Second, the young beast ate your entire incubation sac before birth, which is why you felt such a strong urge to use the bathroom. Technically, you no longer have that organ. Unless you want to have children of your own and choose to undergo another transplant, you will never be pregnant again. Given that, why do you care if Qin Zhen touched a temporary sac?”
Peng Yunhan seemed to take this in, his teary face turning toward her in a daze. Lu Yanqiu nodded inwardly and summarized, “Instead of wasting energy on such trivial matters, you should think about how to thank Qin Zhen. In two days, you will move to the recovery area, and it will be difficult to see him again.”
She patted his arm again and stood up. “How about it? Shall I call Tang Siqing in? She is very worried about you.”
Peng Yunhan nodded sheepishly, then shook his head vigorously. “Teacher, I, I want to see Qin Zhen.”
As soon as he walked into the delivery room, Qin Zhen sensed a tense and awkward atmosphere. Lu Yanqiu could not help but smile to herself, feeling a bit curious. Why was it so natural for women to assist each other in childbirth, yet when a man helped another man through the process, it left such a deep psychological scar on both of them?
“You two talk. I am going out now.”
“Goddess, Dr. Lu!”
“Yes?”
“You, I” Qin Zhen’s clenched fists were trembling. “About that, do you really not mind?”
“Mind?” Lu Yanqiu did not quite understand what he was referring to, but assumed it was about the sedative injection. “I only care about whether a person can step up when others cannot, and you did that. I am very happy, Qin Zhen.”
In an instant, Qin Zhen’s tense body relaxed completely. Even his bones felt soft. In his vision, the goddess’s retreating figure seemed to radiate a holy aura. He thought to himself that as expected of his goddess, her perspective was so grand. On the other hand, as a protagonist type, he was being too petty about small details.
Qin Zhen punched his palm. By the time he reached the bedside, Peng Yunhan saw that familiar yet terrifying smiling face again. He could not help but clutch the thin blanket and lie flat on the bed, as stiff as a corpse.
“Brother Yunhan!” Qin Zhen greeted him with a laugh. “Are you cold? You are wrapped up so tight. You look a bit pale. Are you still feeling unwell after the birth?”
As soon as he asked, he wanted to slap himself. It was a stupid question. Ni Hong had mentioned that the beast would eat the sac before birth. Peng Yunhan had essentially lost an organ; of course, he would feel terrible.
“I am, alright.” Peng Yunhan clearly did not want to mention the sac. He responded haltingly, though his grip on the blanket tightened.
Qin Zhen felt slightly awkward. “Good! That is great! By the way, where is your battle beast? I do not see it. Was it sent to the nursery?”
He wanted to slap himself again. The nursery was like a neonatal intensive care unit. Only unhealthy beasts were sent there for special care. Was he not just cursing Peng Yunhan’s beast by saying that? Fortunately, Peng Yunhan was not a sensitive person.
“Actually, the young beast is here,” Peng Yunhan continued to stammer.
“Here?” Qin Zhen looked around. “I do not see it!”
“Here.” Peng Yunhan raised a hand and pointed to his right eye.
“Holy crap! For real? It is in your eye? An integrated battle beast?!”
Integrated battle beasts can hide themselves inside the master’s body and be summoned when needed. They are extremely convenient for daily life and missions. The White Python owned by the Supreme Commander was a classic example. This type of beast was rare. Giving birth to an integrated beast was like winning the lottery.
Seeing Peng Yunhan nod, all of Qin Zhen’s awkwardness was forgotten. He lunged to the bedside and directly held Peng Yunhan’s head to take a closer look. “Where is it? Deep inside the eye? I do not see anything.”
Before he finished speaking, a tiny speck of green light surfaced from deep within Peng Yunhan’s black pupil, flickering slowly. Qin Zhen thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He rubbed them and looked again. There was no longer just one speck, but countless green lights of all sizes, flickering in and out like a starry sky.
“Wow,” he breathed out in amazement. “What kind of beast is this?”
The two were so close that Peng Yunhan could not only feel the calluses on Qin Zhen’s palms but also his heavy breathing from the shock. This made him hold his breath, making it difficult to answer. “Insects.”
“Insects?”
“Yes. The original form is fireflies.”
“Wow, fireflies! If you had not mentioned it, I would have forgotten such insects existed. Can you call them out from your eye?”
“I, I can.”
Peng Yunhan slowly blinked his right eyelid. Inside the black pupil, the frequency of the green flickers increased significantly, like glowing lanterns rising from underwater. Suddenly, they burst out and flew in a rapid circle in front of Qin Zhen’s eyes before darting back into the eye as if reluctant to leave the nest. The faint light trailing in the air looked like a miniature emerald necklace.
Qin Zhen rubbed his eyes. “They are so small. I did not see them clearly. Can you call them out again?”
This batch of fireflies was indeed tiny, smaller even than their natural counterparts. Even after Peng Yunhan summoned them two more times, Qin Zhen could not tell where their heads or wings were.
“Brother Yunhan, do it again. Heh, this is so rare. I want to see one more time.”
“Okay.”
Peng Yunhan had never been so accommodating. He was almost submissive. He had also never been so proactive. In a gap that Qin Zhen completely failed to notice, his other hand, which was clutching the blanket, slowly but firmly pulled it down. The fireflies returned to their nest once more. Qin Zhen wanted to keep watching, but he suddenly heard his name.
“Qin Zhen,” Peng Yunhan called him.
“What?” Qin Zhen was still staring intently at his right eye.
“Teacher said that if it were not for your help, the delivery would not have gone so smoothly. I owe you a favor. A big one.”
“Nah”
“I know how you feel about me. But I do not like men, and I already have Tang Siqing. I really cannot say yes to you.”
“Nah, wait, what?”
“But Teacher is right. Perhaps after today, we will never see each other again. I, Peng Yunhan, have never liked owing favors, nor do I like beating around the bush. I know what you want, and I will not try to brush you off with something else.”
“Wait, wait, you”
“If you want it, I will give it to you. As for Tang Siqing, I will confess the truth to her. Whether she accepts who I am after today, I will face it calmly. But Qin Zhen, I am telling you now, I can only give it to you once.”
“Stop!” Qin Zhen finally realized what was happening and choked on his own saliva. “Stop right there!”
Beneath him, the blanket on Peng Yunhan had been pulled away at some point. Towering pectoral muscles and blocky abdominals were completely exposed before his eyes, visible from top to bottom. Even the underwear that Qin Zhen had found so annoying was nowhere to be seen. Qin Zhen backed away in a fright, but he suddenly realized he could not even lift his head.
Peng Yunhan’s right arm had hooked around his neck at some point. That thick arm and its developed muscles felt like they were carrying a high-voltage current, making Qin Zhen’s hair stand on end.
“Come on!” Peng Yunhan closed his eyes, wearing an expression of heroic sacrifice.
Qin Zhen was speechless. Where exactly did this go wrong? He did not like men at all!
The room suddenly fell silent, making the voices appearing outside very clear.
“Commander, Peng Yunhan is in this delivery room. He is the first expectant father of the 15744th class to successfully gestate a battle beast. Although they are insect beasts, they are very rare integrated types!”