【The word "Instructor" left Claire stunned.
He stared blankly at the red-haired male Zerg in military uniform sitting on the floating chair, momentarily unsure whether he should call him "Xi'an" or "Male Lord." He was so flustered he nearly bit his tongue.
"Y-You..."
"What is it?" Xi'an brushed his hair behind his ear, hugging the officer's coat on his lap and leaning back in the chair with a smile. "Did the Commander stop recognizing me after I advanced to A+ rank?"
He really looked like someone who had just advanced.
"Of course not," Claire replied hurriedly.
He realized he had absolutely no idea how to face this version of Xi'an.
Whether he treated him as a soldier under his command or as the Male Lord of his household, neither seemed appropriate.
They were still inside the mecha.
Both he and Xi'an were still wearing military uniforms.
The situation left Claire feeling dazed, unable to distinguish reality from illusion.
The bug before him was both his soldier and his Male Lord.
He could command him as a superior officer, yet he should also kneel at his feet like a dog.
"Then why is the Commander staying so far away from me? Did you do something guilty while I was advancing?"
Xi'an crossed his legs, his right boot dangling in the air as the tip gently swung.
Claire's gaze was involuntarily drawn to the moving boot.
His face turned pale at Xi'an's words.
Had he done something shameful?
He had rescued Xi'an from the Tianjia pursuers.
He had resisted his instincts and hadn't harmed Xi'an.
But he had also exposed his ugliness under the male Zerg's pheromones.
He had become infatuated and delirious, harboring improper desires toward the male Zerg, constantly wanting to be possessed by him.
He had tainted Xi'an with his thoughts.
His conscience was guilty.
Claire's knees bent.
He dropped to the floor, kneeling with a deathly pale face.
Xi'an: "...?"
This wasn't what he'd imagined.
He had expected Claire to blush shyly and confess his longing, then naturally be thoroughly toyed with by him.
Instead, Claire knelt.
Xi'an hadn't even been willing to make "Female Lord" Claire kneel.
Yet "Commander" Claire had knelt.
This had truly gone against the natural order.
Feeling uncomfortable inside, Xi'an endured the strange feeling and said:
"Come here."
Claire moved closer on his knees, head lowered, thin lips tightly pressed together, eyelashes trembling. He looked completely prepared to receive punishment.
The "punishment" in his mind was definitely not the same thing Xi'an had in mind.
If Claire had been emotionally stable, Xi'an wouldn't have minded playing along with this mode.
But Claire was clearly terrified.
Xi'an sighed softly and reached out, pulling Claire up and placing him on his lap.
The impact this action had on Claire was even greater than if Xi'an had beaten him directly.
He would rather Xi'an step on him, kick him, or humiliate him.
Claire didn't dare sit down.
His knees supported him, body slightly bent, left hand braced against the chair's backrest, his entire body rigid.
Fear filled his ice-blue eyes.
He looked so tense that he seemed on the verge of entering a stress response.
"What is the Commander afraid of?"
Xi'an looked into his eyes, taking in all the struggle and fear within them.
He cupped the back of Claire's head and forced him to lower it, leaning forward as though about to kiss him.
Claire's pupils trembled.
He almost fell completely onto Xi'an from panic and hurriedly struggled.
"Xi'an! You're advancing! You're not thinking clearly!"
"The one who's confused is clearly the Commander. Did you forget our relationship again?"
Xi'an muttered before pressing a kiss to Claire's lips.
He had wanted to do this for a long time.
Though they were in the mental landscape and the sensations weren't very clear, the intimacy between them felt even deeper.
Like...
A connection between hearts.
Claire froze completely.
The male Zerg easily parted his lips, but his brain screamed warnings.
Their relationship?
Of course they were commander and soldier.
In a daze, Claire smelled sweet male Zerg pheromones.
The enclosed cockpit.
Rich male Zerg pheromones...
He seemed to see the Tianjia pursuers displayed on the mecha screen.
His eyes lost focus.
His trembling hand dropped onto his own thigh.
A cold gleam flashed from his fingertips.
"?!!"
Xi'an almost developed psychological trauma from that movement.
He had no choice but to let go of Claire's lips and quickly grab his hand before Claire tore himself open again.
Held by the male Zerg's long fingers, the bit of insect armor that had begun to emerge instantly retreated.
The claws capable of ripping apart a mecha rested harmlessly in the male Zerg's hand like a hatchling's toy.
Claire's eyes were hazy.
But he didn't dare move.
The cockpit and the sweet male Zerg together had left too deep an impression on him.
He couldn't distinguish reality from illusion.
His pheromone fluid had already leaked out, yearning to be possessed by the male Zerg.
The more his body longed, the paler his face became.
Heat flooded his body while cold sweat covered his forehead.
"No... I can't."
Claire muttered, desperately suppressing his instincts.
He should have slashed himself awake with pain and blood.
But his hand was held by the male Zerg.
He had lost his weapon.
The male Zerg had disarmed him.
This was a situation he had never considered before.
He had no countermeasure.
"Why can't you? Commander, don't you like me?"
As Xi'an asked, he guided Claire's hand behind his own neck, making him embrace him.
He trusted that Claire would never hurt him.
"I like you... but I can't. I'll hurt Xi'an."
Instinct and reason tore at each other inside Claire's mind, nearly splitting his consciousness in two.
But how much reason could a bug with incomplete memories possess?
"You won't hurt me. Did you forget? We're married. These are our wedding rings."
Xi'an raised his hand and showed him the ring he had temporarily created with psychic power.
Claire's gaze was drawn to the silver ring.
He had no memory of wedding rings.
No memory whatsoever.
The male Zerg was lying to him.
But the male Zerg said they were married.
And so Claire willingly allowed himself to be deceived.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Xi'an pressed on his waist and forced him to sit.
Claire nearly jumped up in fright, only to be firmly suppressed.
Female Zergs possessed physical strength and endurance far beyond male Zergs.
Yet in many situations, they could only let themselves be arranged by male Zergs.
Claire's legs had gone weak.
He watched helplessly as he sat down in the male Zerg's lap.
He thought his pheromone fluid must have dirtied Xi'an's military trousers.
Xi'an kissed him as a reward, making the female Zerg shiver again.
"Commander, is this okay? Hmm? Female Lord?"
Xi'an whispered beside his ear, soft breaths brushing it.
The word "Commander" nearly drowned Claire in guilt and panic.
Yet the male Zerg wanted him.
And he had called him Female Lord.
His body softened again.
"M-Mm... it's okay."
Claire didn't possess the iron will everyone thought he had.
When Xi'an had been unconscious, he had forced himself to endure.
But now, Xi'an held him in his arms and called to him in a voice that tempted him to surrender himself completely.
He would commit an unforgivable mistake because of this.
He was like a hard, cold shell, tightly closed and wary of the world.
The male Zerg had matched his identity.
Once he recognized that this was his master...
...
By the end, Claire lay collapsed across the floating chair, his thoughts scattered, wondering whether the other had left behind a pearl nucleus.
If there were a pearl nucleus, he could cultivate his own pearl.
It would surely be a round strawberry-gold pearl, just as beautiful as its owner...】
[Psychic power can actually be used like this?! As expected of Lord Xi'an!]
[No, wait, what just happened?]
[What shell? What pearl? Is this even written in Zerg language? Why does Claire look like he's been thoroughly played with?]
The female Zerg readers, accustomed to the rough and straightforward style of Zerg novels, were completely bewildered.
[Could it be... that Claire's form in the mental landscape is actually a shellfish?]
[Claire transformed into a shellfish! He pleased Lord Xi'an so much that he got played into mush! And now he wants to nurture pearls for Lord Xi'an!]
The simple-minded female Zergs thought they'd uncovered the truth.
[Too shameless, Claire! Using such despicable methods to compete for favor! Seducing a male Zerg into trying interspecies roleplay with this hidden fetish!]
[Zergs and shellfish have reproductive isolation. It's impossible for him to get pregnant!]
[So what? He wants pearls anyway. Lord Xi'an can just shove a grain of sand inside while playing with him! He can't even close up anymore. Whatever Lord Xi'an gives him, he'll have to accept. Just throw the ring in there.]
[Stop rewarding him! He's already floating from pleasure! Though... is turning into a shellfish and getting played with really that enjoyable?]
Male Zergs and sub-females: "..."
They had completely lost hope in female Zerg emotional intelligence and comprehension abilities.
Most female Zergs were simple-minded, having invested all their talent points into combat power.
The more sensitive sub-females, however, easily grasped the deeper meaning and had no problem accepting this exotic style of writing.
As for the male Zergs, what they cared about was entirely different.
Xi'an had already deeply marked Claire inside the mental landscape, and those idiots were discussing shellfish and pearls!
[That's a deep mark!!! The male Zerg has completely marked the female Zerg as his own!]
Now it was the turn of all female Zergs and sub-females to stare blankly.
[What's a deep mark? Isn't marking supposed to be done through the reproductive chamber?]
Finally getting the chance to show off his knowledge, the male Zerg who had mentioned deep marking mercifully explained:
[Reproductive-chamber marks are ordinary marks. They aren't unique and can be overwritten by higher-ranking male Zergs. Their effects are limited.]
[Psychic marks are deep marks. Only a handful of high-ranking male Zergs and highly compatible partners can achieve them.
The marked female Zerg carries the male Zerg's psychic anchor inside his mental domain.
From that moment onward, he can only accept that one male Zerg.
He becomes immune to all other male Zergs' psychic control and pheromones.
The anchor left behind by the male Zerg also stabilizes his mind and preserves his sanity.
A deeply marked female Zerg will never suffer a psychic riot again!]
Never suffer a psychic riot again.
That simple sentence struck the female Zergs dumb.
Sub-females weren't affected as strongly, since psychic riots had always impacted them less.
But female Zergs were completely different.
Their core energy granted them incomparable combat power, turning them into the ultimate war machines of the universe.
But it also endangered their mental stability, leaving them constantly threatened by psychic riots.
If that weakness disappeared, female Zergs would become truly without flaws.
[You can actually do that?! It really exists?!]
[Please! Let some male Zerg deeply mark me! I don't care which one! Any male Zerg is fine as long as I never have to suffer psychic riots!]
[Dream on. It's not that easy. You need both a high-ranking male Zerg and extremely high compatibility. Missing either one makes it impossible. If it were really that simple, every female Zerg on the street would have already found a random male Zerg to mark them and psychic riots would have disappeared long ago.]
Those words made the female Zergs' feelings toward Claire even more complicated.
Envy.
Jealousy.
And a secret sense of vicarious satisfaction they didn't want to admit.
Many wished they could possess Claire.
#AssassinateClaire#
#DeepMark#
#ClaireCantGrowPearls#
#ClaireGotPleasuredAgain#