The ones who change the world are never individuals alone, but every member of that world.
An Ruo was suddenly overflowing with energy and desperately wanted to do something.
So he contacted the prison administrator through his terminal.
"Major General! I feel fantastic right now. Please give me another twenty military female Zerg! No, fifty!"
Uriel, upon receiving the message: "..."
If he didn't already understand this lord's personality, he would have thought the male Zerg wanted to hold a massive orgy inside his prison cell.
Uriel patiently advised him:
"Your Lordship, you have already completed today's work with a workload several times greater than that of male Zerg of the same rank. I know you care deeply about the mental condition of military female Zerg, but please cherish your own health. You are more important than anything else. As long as you remain well, that is the foundation of sustainable long-term development."
Major General Uriel seemed to have accidentally spoken his true thoughts...
An Ruo glanced at the last sentence and quietly looked away.
Sure enough, he was the most expensive piece of equipment in the prison.
He had a clear understanding of himself and wasn't particularly surprised. He accepted it quite well.
"I think I've already broken through to A-rank. I can take on more psychic soothing tasks!"
Uriel wasn't surprised by the fact that the male Zerg had reached A-rank. What surprised him was that he had openly admitted it.
The amount of psychic soothing the other party performed every day already far exceeded that of B-rank male Zerg and even surpassed the workload of A-rank male Zerg.
If Uriel hadn't noticed something was wrong, that would have been the real problem.
Besides...
The male Zerg was truly beautiful.
The higher a Zerg's rank, the better every aspect became, including appearance.
This was especially obvious among male Zerg.
After all, courtship genes had existed since primitive times and had been preserved through millions of years of evolution.
Males always knew how to make use of their appearance to pass down their genes.
Female Zerg had originally been soldier bugs without reproductive abilities or the right to mate with male Zerg. For a very long time, appearance had never been part of their evolutionary path.
Only after the last Queen died and the suppression of Queen pheromones disappeared did the soldier bugs gain reproductive abilities and become complete female Zerg capable of reproducing with male Zerg. Only then did they begin to pay attention to their looks.
The first time he saw this male Zerg, Uriel had already realized he was absurdly beautiful.
Completely different from the information in his files.
It was as though he had become an entirely different bug.
If he couldn't still find similarities in little details here and there, Uriel would have suspected the court had delivered the wrong bug.
In the end, he could only attribute it to the male Zerg ranking up midway and...
Being terribly unphotogenic.
All this time, he had never reported the suspected promotion, nor had he arranged another rank assessment.
The male Zerg was still wearing a B-rank suppressor.
In truth, this was extremely dangerous.
Without restrictions, an A-rank male Zerg could incapacitate the prison's female Zerg guards with psychic power.
If a male Zerg attacked female Zerg and attempted to escape—though the chance of success was almost nonexistent—Uriel would bear responsibility.
But this male Zerg had been so cooperative and had done so much that Uriel was willing to turn a blind eye.
He wanted to grant him a little more freedom within the limits of his authority.
In exchange, he had to remain inside the prison every day and keep track of the male Zerg's every movement. He personally escorted him to and from the treatment room.
Fortunately, this was a worry-free male Zerg. He had never impulsively attacked female Zerg to escape prison.
The thing he used his psychic power for the most was...
Writing novels.
Uriel's expression always turned strange whenever he thought about that.
Sometimes he truly couldn't understand what this male Zerg was thinking.
What exactly was he trying to do?
Just as he couldn't understand why the male Zerg had hidden himself so well while Uriel happily pretended not to notice—why suddenly reveal his promotion?
Surely it wasn't just to perform psychic soothing for a few more female Zerg?
Some things could be ignored as long as they remained unspoken.
But once spoken aloud, rules had to be followed.
Uriel replied:
"So Your Lordship has advanced. Congratulations. I will arrange a new rank evaluation as soon as possible. During the coming week, please sleep early, rise early, avoid overexertion, and maintain your mental condition so as not to affect the accuracy of the assessment."
An Ruo read the message twice before understanding.
Two words summed it up:
Request denied.
And during the next week, he wasn't allowed to perform any psychic soothing outside his assigned tasks.
An Ruo gained a new understanding of how precious he was.
This "piece of equipment" was so important that Uriel wasn't willing to take even the slightest risk and feared shortening its service life.
If possible, the prison would probably treat him like a family heirloom and pass him down for generations—for all 999 years.
Assuming he lived that long.
Psychic soothing was forbidden.
An Ruo's abundant energy had nowhere to go.
In the end, he sat down before his desk, opened the light screen, and started writing.
The story should advance further.
"An" wrote entirely based on inspiration, and updates were irregular.
Female Zerg could only browse StarNet while waiting, checking the novel page every now and then. If no new chapter appeared, they went back to reading discussions.
Recently, besides the analysis of the "Pearls and Clams" symbolism, the hottest topic was "deep marking."
Deep marking was what female Zerg cared about most.
It wasn't a secret among the Zerg, but it was niche knowledge.
Too far removed from ordinary life.
Its requirements were simply too harsh, and very few bugs could achieve it.
Like a miracle cure for cancer—it existed, but most bugs would never encounter their own medicine in their lifetime.
Even so, when "deep marking" entered public attention this way, it sparked a wave of genetic matching fever.
Female Zerg paid more attention to compatibility with male Zerg.
Male Zerg received a flood of date requests.
When compatibility exceeded ninety percent, female Zerg could actively request one date with a male Zerg.
Only one opportunity.
As long as the male Zerg wasn't in a bad mood, most were willing to meet for compatibility's sake.
If they got along well, they could even check into a hotel that very day for deeper interactions.
Soon, female Zerg discovered that the compatibility required for deep marking had no direct relationship with genetic compatibility.
High genetic compatibility didn't necessarily mean deep marking.
They were entirely different things.
Female Zerg who thought they would gain a psychic anchor naturally felt disappointed.
But seeing the sleeping male Zerg beside them, they found that this wasn't so bad either.
[Deep marking is a fairy tale. Reproductive cavity marking is reality. (lights cigarette)]
[Sleeping with a highly compatible male Zerg feels amazing, doesn't it? You faker!]
The female Zerg who hadn't even gotten dates were bitter.
One female Zerg married for many years commented:
[My Male Lord and I married because our compatibility was high. We've had one hatchling after another over the years, but we've never achieved deep marking.]
[So what exactly determines deep marking compatibility?]
[Love.]
[What language is the person above speaking? I don't understand.]
[Love? As if that exists. Stop rotting your brains with novels!]
[Female Zerg love male pheromones, psychic soothing, eggs and hatchlings. As for anything else... can that really be loved?]
[And male Zerg? Forget it. Male Zerg only love themselves.]
[So lucky bugs like Claire only exist in novels.]
[These novels have damaged my brain. (shakes head) (sighs)]
[Then are you reading the next update? Instructor just updated.]
[Rush! Rush! Rush!!!]
...
[Xi'an lay on top of Claire and poked his cheek from time to time.
Claire looked completely broken.
Even though Xi'an hadn't actually done anything.
The moment Xi'an exited the psychic domain and saw Claire like this, he thought he'd gone too far and made Claire stupid.
He hurriedly ran a psychic examination.
To his astonishment, it showed a perfect score of 100.
For female Zerg, this number was shocking.
Many female Zerg might only have enjoyed such excellent mental health during infancy or shortly after hatching.
Even in Xi'an's expectations, it should have taken one or two months of gradual nurturing to completely heal Claire.
Yet suddenly it had reached full marks.
There were no fluctuations whatsoever.
Perfectly stable.
"Claire? Claire, can you hear me?"
Xi'an poked his cheek and called softly.
The distant voice pierced through countless fragments of memories and reached Claire's ears.
Gradually, Claire regained his senses.
His gaze focused on the male Zerg's face.
This wasn't the mecha cockpit filled with pheromones.
Nor the cold and isolated rehabilitation center.
His beloved male Zerg was lying on top of him, watching him with eyes as green as new sprouts.
"Xi'an... Male Lord?"
Claire fully woke up.
"Finally awake. Feeling better? How do you feel?"
Xi'an asked with concern.
"Mhm... good..."
Claire couldn't quite describe his current state.
His mind felt incredibly cool and clear.
He couldn't stop looking at Xi'an's face.
Yet he also felt slightly dazed and wanted very much to kiss him.
His spirit was fully satisfied and content, but there was an emptiness in his stomach.
He wanted something to fill it.
Perhaps he was hungry.
Claire thought.
Meeting his gaze, Xi'an seemed to sense something. He pushed himself upright and pulled Claire out of bed.
"Then let's go eat something! What do you want?"
"Anything."
You.
Xi'an froze.
He turned back uncertainly.
Their eyes met.
Claire's Adam's apple bobbed.
"Meat is fine."
Female Zerg preferred meat due to their high protein requirements.
It was said that male Zerg pheromone fluid was also rich in protein.
Claire restrained himself and kept his eyes from wandering.
Xi'an suddenly felt like he'd gone insane.
Claire was still standing there with his strong body uncovered.
Xi'an hurriedly sent him to the dressing room and rushed downstairs himself.
He feared that if he stayed one second longer, he would want to feed Claire something else.
Once the male Zerg left, the room abruptly became empty.
Claire sat on the bed, supporting his head with one hand.
At times he felt unclear.
At times he felt far too clear.
His mental state had never been better.
His consciousness was crystal clear.
All memories had returned, including everything that happened in the rehabilitation center...
He should have overcome his dependence on male pheromones.
But even without pheromones, Xi'an still seemed irresistibly attractive.
Actually, after leaving the rehabilitation center, it had always been like this.
Xi'an thought he had become cold.
Only Claire knew what he had been restraining.
The rehabilitation center could cure pheromone addiction.
It couldn't cure the heart.
Female Zerg perception was keen.
Xi'an's presence was especially vivid to Claire.
Without trying, he always knew where he was.
Sensing that the male Zerg had entered the kitchen, Claire quickly got out of bed and dressed.
As long as there was a female Zerg in the house, how could a male Zerg do those troublesome things himself?
That went against all the education and discipline Claire had received.
By the time Claire came downstairs, Xi'an was grilling meat.
The male Zerg still wore his robe.
His movements turning the meat were relaxed and practiced.
It was a cozy domestic scene.
Beautiful enough to be filmed.
But roles like that were usually played by female or sub-female Zerg.
Claire nearly jumped in fright.
He had assumed Xi'an was only adjusting the smart housekeeper's settings.
Who would've thought the male Zerg would personally cook?
"Male Lord, please allow me."
He hurried forward.
"With your barely passing cooking skills? Can you handle it?"
Xi'an sounded doubtful, shifting slightly and making room without leaving.
Claire thought that whether he could or not, he had to.
He couldn't let a male Zerg do this.
More importantly, he was curious how Xi'an had learned.
Xi'an seemed to read his mind.
"The military cafeteria only serves those same things every day. After eating them long enough, I wanted to throw up, so I started experimenting myself."
In truth, Xi'an didn't cook often.
He was lazy.
Only when he was truly sick of cafeteria food and his taste buds had gone numb would he prepare something in his dormitory.
Claire probably had never experienced that.
Female Zerg weren't picky.
They could drink tasteless nutrient solution without changing expressions.
Even if someone handed them an energy ore, they would probably gnaw on it.
Xi'an secretly glanced at Claire.
Claire imagined the male Zerg cooking alone in his dormitory and found it adorable.
At the same time, his heart ached.
As a male Zerg, Xi'an shouldn't have had to suffer that.
"You are a male Zerg. You can apply to the military district for male meals. They will assign a private chef."
Ordinary male soldiers weren't entitled to that.
But Xi'an was a captain.
And considering his special position in the Ninth Military Region, the military would certainly agree.
But Xi'an hated special treatment most of all.
He frowned.
"Forget it. Military chefs might not even be any better."
Claire thought about Xi'an's background and fell silent.
Perhaps military chefs really weren't worthy of his standards.
After a moment, he still spoke.
"In the future, I can cook for you... We're married now. According to military regulations, we can live together."
Xi'an looked at him in surprise.
Thinking the male Zerg doubted his skills, Claire hurriedly explained:
"My cooking isn't very good, but I can learn. I'm a colonel and have a detached villa in the military district. You can move there, or I can come cook for you. I just can't stay overnight..."
Xi'an stared blankly.
Unexplainable emotions surged in his chest.
His eyes became slightly hot.
Claire had always resisted and kept his distance.
Even after marriage, he had been cautious and lifeless.
He remained wary of every approach, fear outweighing joy.
For him to say such words now...
It was practically a confession.
Seeing the expression on the male Zerg's face, Claire became even more flustered.
"Don't you like me doing these things? Have I... overstepped?"
"No, no."
Xi'an laughed and shook his head.
He held Claire's face and kissed him.
"I like it. I like it so much. I'm just too happy."
"Claire..."
"I'm really happy that you can say these things to me."