The comment section had completely exploded after readers finished the chapter.
[Psychic domain damage really does affect intelligence! Claire actually didn't realize His Excellency Xi'an was the Male Zerg matched to him!]
[He's way too dense! If an idiot like that marries into the family, he'll contaminate His Excellency's genes!]
[Exactly! His Excellency should marry me!]
["Then let's get married"... Oh my god, that's the most beautiful love confession I've ever heard. I can't imagine how happy I'd be if an A-rank Male Zerg said that to me when my psychic domain was on the verge of collapse.]
[Red-haired little strawberry His Excellency is so adorable. I want to give birth to little strawberries for His Excellency~]
[The delusional female Zerg upstairs can move aside. Are any of you ranked higher than Claire? Do you have a higher military rank than him? No matter what, he's still a Colonel!]
[The problem is that his psychic domain is damaged. That's an undeniable fact.]
[Claire's mental condition is terrible. His Excellency was sitting right in front of him and he still drifted off. Who knows when he'll completely lose his self-awareness and become a beast ruled by instinct? His Excellency should stay as far away from him as possible!]
Most readers had originally clicked on the novel because they were curious how a military instructor could possibly torture a Male Zerg so harshly and wanted to see how the Male Zerg would take revenge.
But now that it seemed His Excellency actually intended to marry Claire, they started panicking.
Xi'an was an exceptionally outstanding A-rank Male Zerg.
The perfect embodiment of the female Zerg instinct to admire strength.
Beautiful.
Powerful.
Noble.
Elegant.
Even his anger was beautiful and adorable.
Like a Male Zerg that could only exist in dreams.
If the female Zerg matched with him had been someone equally powerful and unattainable—a General or a Legion Commander, for example—the readers would have felt more balanced about it.
They would have thought it only natural.
Even if they felt jealous, they would merely crawl around in darkness nursing their envy.
Voicing it aloud would only invite attacks from other readers.
But Claire?
A female Zerg whose psychic domain was on the verge of total collapse?
What gave him the right?
He was a Colonel.
Sure, in reality a Colonel was impressive.
But in novels? Which protagonist's love interest started below Major General?
As for age...
By Zerg standards, he was still very young.
But Xi'an was younger than him.
That made Claire an old female Zerg.
He had even treated the Male Zerg cruelly during their instructor-trainee days.
There was precedent.
Claire simply wasn't worthy of His Excellency Xi'an.
If his condition were stable, perhaps he could qualify as a female attendant.
But he was mentally unstable.
A dangerous individual.
His Excellency Xi'an should immediately distance himself from him.
That was simply how Zerg culture worked.
Even a sadistic Male Zerg in a novel would have countless readers defending him and wanting to forgive him, provided he was outstanding enough.
As for someone like Xi'an—
A Male Zerg with nothing but strengths, no obvious faults whatsoever, and even the setting of "the pitiful Male Zerg abused by his instructor"—
There was no need to say more.
Of course, not everyone was speaking against Claire.
After all, every female Zerg served in the military.
Military service was universal.
The sense of identification with military female Zergs ran incredibly deep.
[Don't take it too far. This is Claire's only chance. If His Excellency Xi'an doesn't marry him, do you want to watch him die?]
[There are countless ways for a Male Zerg to take revenge on a female Zerg. His Excellency can marry Claire as a female attendant and still get his revenge. He can even do it more legitimately. Claire only wants psychic soothing. Why take away his chance to survive?]
After seeing comments like these, many of the previously emotional readers calmed down.
If this were reality, many of them might have sided with Claire.
But this was a novel.
Emotions toward fictional characters were always more extreme.
When they loved someone, they wanted them to live.
When they hated someone, they wanted them dead.
[...No matter how you look at it, Claire is far too dangerous in his current condition. His Excellency Xi'an has no idea how terrifying a female Zerg on the verge of psychic collapse can be.]
[Seriously. When I saw Claire getting dizzy and even spacing out in front of His Excellency, all I wanted to do was scream at His Excellency to run.]
[A female Zerg like that should be fitted with restraints, have his limbs locked, and have steel needles driven into his spine... That's how the Military Region Prison handles them. Claire isn't at that stage yet, but he's not far from it.]
[No. Claire would rather kill himself. If it really came to that point, he'd definitely end his own life while he still had consciousness.]
[Who knows? Never underestimate a person's survival instinct. Before accidents happen, everyone thinks accidents won't happen.]
[Instead of arguing about this, why don't we ask the author when the next update is coming? Why does this novel only have one chapter?!]
The moment that comment appeared, the direction of the discussion changed instantly.
The entire comment section turned into a chorus of desperate update requests.
[A one-chapter novel and you still dared to post it? Where is the author? I'm mailing razor blades!]
[I checked the author's profile. The name is just a string of default numbers, IP address unknown, and this is the only novel they've ever written.]
[Could this be a famous author's secret account?]
[Doesn't seem like it. The style is too unique. None of the famous romance authors write like this.]
They were used to stories about battling female attendants, battling Female Lords, competing for affection, producing eggs, then continuing to battle newly arrived female attendants.
Full of fighting spirit.
Or stories of:
"My Male Lord abuses me a thousand times, yet I love him as I did at first sight."
Kidneys removed.
Hearts removed.
Wings torn off.
Hundreds of chapters of abuse without dying.
Or stories where the protagonist entered the Male Zerg family business, earned the favor of the Female Lord, built a career together, occasionally slept with the Male Lord and laid an egg.
The absolute winner of life.
Meanwhile, Instructor clearly belonged to none of those schools.
And with only a single chapter available, nobody could even determine what kind of story it intended to be.
A novel written by an author with no proper pen name, only one book, and one chapter to their name looked exactly like the sort of account that could disappear at any moment.
Afraid the author would vanish before the story continued, female Zerg readers began leaving tips.
[(Irrigating Nutrient Solution x10) Author, please keep writing! Finish this story!]
[Even though nothing this author writes makes any sense, I've decided to give them one chance. I absolutely must see His Excellency Xi'an ruthlessly take revenge on Claire after marriage! (Reward: Quantum Cannon x1)]
[(Reward: Quantum Cannon x5) Update immediately. If you dare run away, you're finished. I'll trace your IP address, come to your house, and challenge you to a real-life duel. If you lose, you'll be locked in a little dark room and forced to write chapters forever (smile) (whip).]
...
When An Ruo woke up and logged into StarNet the next day, the flood of notifications made him think his terminal had been infected with a virus.
Could a military-issued terminal even get a virus?
After looking more carefully, he discovered they were all reader comments and rewards.
The Zerg civilization truly deserved its reputation as a cosmic superpower spanning multiple star systems.
The population was enormous.
A novel that had only been published for a single day could already attract so many readers.
An Ruo browsed through the comments.
Even seeing people talk about tracing his IP address and showing up at his door to demand updates didn't worry him in the slightest.
What a joke.
Did they even know where he lived?
Military Region Prison.
Protected by the highest level of security in Zerg society.
To put it simply—
There were probably more guards stationed around him than around General Ulysses.
...Though as an SS-rank, nearly SSS-rank powerhouse, Ulysses didn't really need protection.
An Ruo also noticed the comments about his pen name.
When he published the novel, he hadn't expected it to succeed.
He had forgotten to choose a name.
Opening his profile page, he paused at the rename screen and thought for a while before finally entering a new name.
His old pen name, An Zhi Ruo Su, didn't really fit the linguistic environment of Zerg society.
The body's original name, Annor, was directly tied to a criminal and domestic abuse case.
Every time he opened StarNet, he could still see discussions about the Annor case.
That name was unsuitable as well.
As for using his real name, An Ruo...
Don't be ridiculous.
Who used their real name online?
After considerable thought, An Ruo ultimately selected a single character:
An.
Instructor
Author: An
A new comment suddenly appeared.
It was highlighted in red and pinned to the top.
Impossible to ignore.
[(Reward: Spaceship x1)]
[(Reward: Spaceship x10)]
[(Reward: Spaceship x10)]
An Ruo clicked on it and discovered all three gifts came from the same person.
[I know where you are.]
[StarNet IP addresses are public. If your address shows as "Unknown," then either you're using special methods or you're stationed in a military zone where the address is hidden due to classified information.]
[You write military female Zerg stories and know so much about the Ninth Legion. My guess is you're a military female Zerg serving in the Ninth Legion. I'm in the Third Legion, but who doesn't have friends in other legions? You know what I mean.]
An Ruo: “...”
The reasoning was correct.
The conclusion was completely wrong.
Then again, who would ever guess that the author was actually a Male Zerg prisoner serving a sentence inside prison?
An Ruo had no idea how much the gifts were worth.
His attention was focused entirely on the mistaken identity.
The other female Zergs in the comment section were stunned by the extravagant spending.
[Holy shit, military female Zergs from Capital Star are rich! Respect to the boss from the Third Legion! Active-duty military female Zergs actually read this kind of military romance novel?]
[Of course they do. What kind of misunderstanding do you have about military female Zergs? They're loyal readers of male-female romance novels, okay?]
[Military life means barely ever seeing Male Zergs. Especially during long-term deep-space patrol missions. It's unbelievably boring. Reading Male Zerg novels is one of the few ways to pass the time.]
Mixed among these comments were a few discussing the identities of the protagonists.
There were too few of them to attract much attention.
[This Colonel Claire sounds like my commanding officer...]
[And Xi'an. That's Lieutenant Xi'an, isn't it? The Ruby of the Ninth Legion.]
[Is this... a fantasy romance starring His Excellency Xi'an?]
The Ninth Legion spent most of its time stationed on the frontier and frequently undertook expeditionary missions.
It was relatively isolated from the outside world.
Very little information about the Ninth Legion circulated publicly.
As a result, those comments attracted almost no attention.
...
After getting up, An Ruo spent some time reading comments and writing.
At seven o'clock sharp, a military female Zerg appeared at his door as usual.
He put away the light screen and headed to the treatment room to continue playing doctor.
He always felt like an actor.
Pretending to be a doctor while treating patients.
The patients cooperated enthusiastically too, looking at him with gratitude and relief.
The only thing missing was someone dropping to their knees, grabbing his hand, and shouting:
"You are a miracle doctor!"
If such a scene appeared in a web drama, audiences would call the acting exaggerated.
Yet it kept happening right in front of him.
Again and again.
The female Zergs genuinely seemed to need his treatment.
This wasn't a novel.
The psychic collapse he wrote about in fiction was a cold and brutal reality here.
After soothing ten B-rank military female Zergs, An Ruo remained seated instead of leaving.
Twisting his fingers together, he hesitated for a long time before finally speaking to Major General Uriel, who was standing guard nearby.
“Arrange a few more military female Zergs.”
He paused.
“...A-rank female Zergs are fine too.”
This would likely expose the fact that his psychic rank wasn't actually B-rank.
But he couldn't worry about that anymore.
His sentence was already 999 years.
And honestly, he quite liked prison life.
The military wasn't going to increase his sentence over this.
Nor would they do anything harmful to him.
With his psychic soothing ability, they would probably treat him like a treasure.
At worst, they'd increase his daily workload.
He could handle that.
Uriel had been acting strangely all day.
He kept secretly looking at An Ruo with complicated eyes full of curiosity and unspoken questions.
When An Ruo voluntarily suggested treating more patients, Uriel froze slightly.
His gaze became even more complicated.
But seeing that An Ruo seemed energetic, he agreed.
“Female Zergs outside your assigned quota will earn additional Contribution Points. Please don't push yourself.”
In the end, An Ruo treated ten more A-rank military female Zergs and fifteen additional B-rank military female Zergs.
A-rank and B-rank soldiers formed the backbone of military female Zerg forces.
They were the most numerous.
The strongest.
The ones who fought on the front lines.
And therefore the ones whose psychic domains suffered the most severe damage.
An Ruo actually felt he still had plenty of energy left.
It was Uriel who forcibly called a halt.
“Enough. Even an A-rank Male Zerg couldn't endure this level of workload. Even if you want more Contribution Points, there's no need to rush. You need rest.”
Uriel personally escorted him back to his cell.
“It's not for the Contribution Points...”
An Ruo said quietly before entering.
“...I know.”
Though it was difficult to believe, Uriel had indeed seen something hidden in this Male Zerg's eyes.
Guilt.
Compassion.
“I am grateful for everything you've done. On behalf of all military female Zergs, thank you for your efforts.”
What Uriel couldn't understand was this:
A Male Zerg capable of sympathizing with the suffering of complete strangers—
How could the same person have been so cruel to the General who had shared a marriage bond with him?
He wanted to ask.
To demand an explanation.
But everything had already been decided.
The reason no longer mattered.
Suppressing the question that had reached his lips, Uriel instead said:
“As for the novel you've published on StarNet...”
Before he could finish speaking, the Male Zerg reacted violently.
He spun around.
Gasped.
Stared at him with wide eyes.
Like a startled long-eared rabbit beast.
If he actually had rabbit ears, they would probably be standing straight up.
What does it feel like when a real person suddenly brings up the novel you're writing?
Pure terror.
An Ruo had expected military authorities to review his writing.
But hearing a living, breathing Zerg mention it directly to his face was still horrifying.
Seeing the nervousness radiating from the Male Zerg's beautiful eyes, Uriel quickly reassured him.
“I don't mean anything by it. I only wanted to remind you that certain excessively extreme content can't be written...”
For example, excessively brutal violence and abuse.
Uriel secretly glanced at the Male Zerg with a prior criminal record and quietly added:
“Especially when active-duty military officers are involved...”
Having his novel discussed by a real-life reader made An Ruo so embarrassed that his toes practically dug a hole in the floor.
He wanted to bury himself.
Or cover Uriel's mouth.
Hearing those words, he simply assumed it was because he was writing a military female Zerg romance and therefore couldn't damage the image of military female Zergs.
“I understand. I'll be careful. I won't write anything inappropriate.”
An Ruo promised.
He had already received enough experience and lessons.
Being transported here was the biggest lesson of all.
Thus, Uriel said nothing more.
He merely reminded An Ruo to rest properly and handed him several energy stimulants.
After Uriel left, An Ruo let out a long breath and patted his frightened little heart.
At least now his writing had officially passed inspection in front of the officer responsible for him.
He could write much more openly from now on.
Returning to his desk, An Ruo drank an energy stimulant.
Instantly refreshed, he felt full of energy.
Taking advantage of his good condition, he opened his terminal and prepared to write another chapter.
The moment he entered StarNet, however, he saw a news notification.
€€€€General Ulysses Officially Assumes the Position of Marshal.
The news occupied most of the screen.
It was impossible to miss.
An Ruo looked at the black-haired officer in the video.
Cold.
Authoritative.
His silver-gray eyes resembled polished metal.
For a brief moment, their gazes seemed to meet through the screen.
Silence lingered.
Then An Ruo quietly said a single sentence in his heart.
Congratulations.
Congratulations.
Promotion.
Fortune.
And a dead husband.
Truly one of life's greatest joys.