Roy opened his eyes, a faint smile on his face as he said, “Trash gets its just desserts; please respect yourself, Your Highness.”
A slightly crisp slapping sound made the atmosphere in the alley awkward for a moment.
A trace of indifference flashed across Linnia’s eyes, though it vanished almost as quickly. Magnanimously, he said, “My dear close friend, you grew up in the slums despite being a Zerg male; that is the empire government’s dereliction of duty. You were frightened because of a gang shootout; that is my dereliction of duty as an imperial prince. How about this: come with me to the palace first. I swear upon the honor of the Acadelie family that all your missing legal status will be properly processed in the palace, and all your grief and confusion will be completely resolved.”
An exquisitely decorated trap was still a trap. No matter how sweet Linnia’s words sounded, his intention was still to drag him away for imprisonment and experimentation, not that he was saying he wouldn’t dissect him.
Roy found it somewhat uninteresting. Linnia’s cliché motives were a complete mood killer for an actuary who craved intellectual stimulation, making even this bug’s pretty face pale in comparison.
“Very well, thank you, Your Highness.” Even so, when one is under someone else’s roof, one has no choice but to bow one’s head.
“How sensible,” Linnia wrapped an arm around his neck, as intimately as if he were putting him in a chokehold. “I like you the most.”
The slum female Zerg whom he had illegally received had suddenly turned into a male Zerg, and his charge had instantly shifted from smuggling a commoner to trafficking a male Zerg. The witness was even the world-famous eldest prince of the males; hoping to silence him was out of the question.
In imperial law, the safety of a male Zerg took absolute priority; saving the eldest prince could not cover up their crime of privately receiving a male Zerg of unknown origin. Where did this Lord come from? Where were they taking him? When it came to cases involving males, the females simply wouldn’t be able to explain themselves clearly.
The receiving female Zerg felt the world spinning around them, their faces turning completely pale.
Roy keenly noticed their panic. He found it absurd, but out of respect as a passing traveler for the foolish rules of this world, he spoke up, “Thank you, kind sirs, for your rescue. Otherwise, I would still be struggling to survive in the slums today.”
Linnia nodded in agreement. The female Zerg let out a collective sigh of relief. They swarmed forward, eagerly offering to help the two males carry their guns.
“Such heavy and bloody things,” the red-haired female Zerg looked at Roy with heartache, “your past life must have been extraordinarily harsh. It is truly heartbreaking. Just who is it that…”
Roy had never heard such melodramatic nonsense in his entire life, and it gave him goosebumps of disgust.
Linnia stood off to the side with his arms crossed, watching him squirm with amused detachment. It wasn’t until the red-haired female Zerg, seeing that Roy had a gentle disposition, unconsciously stepped closer and closer.
“Watch your attitude.” He lowered his arms, his expression abruptly turning cold.
“I am sorry!” Hearing the male’s reprimand, the female Zerg gave a start and was yanked back into formation by his companion.
They obediently led the way ahead, their spines straight and their posture rigid, terrified that improper behavior would displease the males.
Roy followed them numbly. His exhausted mind and body made it impossible for him to pay attention to his surroundings as he usually would, not to mention that he still had a six-foot-tall human-shaped deadweight hanging off him.
Amidst Roy’s arduous trek, the female Zerg’s cautious steps, and Linnia’s joyful outing, the group finally made their way from the path to the entrance of the city.
What came into view was still a low dog hole.
Linnia no longer cared; after a day full of stimulation, the moment he saw the dog hole, he even felt a sense of relief that it was exactly as expected.
As for Roy, he naturally possessed few emotions, and coupled with a lawless childhood, he could do anything humiliating or outrageous with a straight face.
Thus, the female Zerg watched in awe and trepidation as two of the most noble Lords in existence dropped to all fours one by one, wriggling their bodies as they crawled out through the dog hole, feeling as though everything before their eyes was like a dream or an illusion.
Should he slap himself to see if this was real? The red-haired female Zerg looked at his nearest companion.
So his companion slapped him—a crisp and resonant sound.
“Does it hurt?” he asked sincerely, looking at the red-haired female Zerg, before gesturing toward the dog hole with his chin just as the other was about to punch him back, signaling that the Lords might still be able to hear them.
“It hurts.” The red-haired female Zerg gritted his teeth.
So it was real. With solemn expressions, the female Zerg crawled out through the dog hole one by one.
“It must be quite rare for male Zergs to crawl through dog holes,” the refined and gentle Lord Roy offered thoughtful advice right as they emerged. “Why not hang a sign over this hole in the future that reads, ‘His Highness Linnia Acadelie crawled through here’? Charge one hundred star coins for a photo, one thousand star coins to crawl through the matching hole. Such a great way to make money, and you will not need to forge IDs for people anymore.”
After pondering for a moment, he added, “Who knows, the extra money might even be enough to renovate the slums. If the mountain will not come to Hai-ye, let Hai-ye go to the mountain.”
The female Zerg fell silent, and Linnia smiled. It seemed that from the very first second he had been recognized, this male Zerg had maintained an upward curve at the corner of his lips—fake and bureaucratic.
Roy waited for a moment, realizing they had no intention of responding, and very naturally pretended he had never said anything. He looked at Linnia and said, “Shall we go, Your Highness? To the palace.”
Linnia shook his head. “Let us stand here a little longer.”
Roy didn’t understand, but he didn’t know the way, nor did he want to talk to this annoying person. The female Zerg lacked the courage to object to Linnia. Thus, the three parties stared at each other blankly and stood in place for a full two minutes.
Two minutes later, a roaring rush of air came from all directions. Everyone except Linnia stared up at the sky in shock as hundreds of small whirlwinds disgorged glittering starships, which came to a stop two meters above the ground.
A few seconds later, the cabin doors opened in unison, and military female Zerg stepped out of the starships, jumped to the ground, and dropped onto one knee.
“Greetings, Eldest Highness!”
My, what a grand display. Roy instinctively bit his index finger. Linnia stepped forward and very smoothly pulled Roy’s finger out of his mouth. Then, he sauntered with cat-like steps toward the first kneeling military female, his long hair flowing and swaying in the wind like a waterfall. With a slender waist and long legs, the tablecloth draped over his body looked like designer couture.
Dashing and magnificent.
Roy clearly saw the military female kneeling before Linnia swallow hard, clenching his fingers until his gloves crumpled into a ball.
As expected, it was a level of beauty that could make a person like himself develop the urge to help others.
As a star-crossed digital creature akin to an ill-omened loner, Roy possessed an astonishing capacity for indifference toward his own and others’ misfortunes. He was completely impervious to disaster, as though his sensory faculty had been slashed off with a single blade and entirely grafted onto his abstract thinking capacity. During his childhood, many children in the same orphanage even doubted whether someone like Roy truly existed.
Able to make himself risk his life to escape with him, Linnia’s face really had something to it—very much worth studying. Roy mentally traced the distribution of Linnia’s facial features and the arc of his bones, memorizing them carefully in order to calculate them later.
Over there, Linnia had already announced rewards for the female Zerg who had escorted them back. Amidst the teary-eyed gratitude of these kind bugs, he turned back, extended his hand to Roy with a generous demeanor and warm grace, radiant like a savior.
Roy placed his hand on top and was grasped by Linnia. Together, they walked up the ladder and into the starship. Roy had a fleeting illusion that the pampered eldest prince of the males seemed to have some calluses on his hands, placed in a way that didn’t quite look like they came from writing, and he looked up at him suspiciously.
Linnia’s iridescent pupils were also gazing right at him. As if perceiving Roy’s confusion, the male reached out and made a gun-holding gesture, giving a flashy wink.
So that was it, gun calluses. Roy vaguely felt that the other’s gun-holding gesture was like a provocation, yet felt something was amiss. Could it be a warning? He thought about it for a moment and decided it didn’t much matter. Warning or not, he had no intention of sitting as a sitting duck.
“I want to rest,” Roy withdrew his hand, blinking at Linnia. “Would Your Highness please find a place for me to sleep? Thank you.”
Some military females stepped forward, seemingly wanting to lead Roy the way. Linnia waved his hand to signal them to retreat. His Highness the Eldest Prince bowed to his close friend like a butler, turned sideways, and signaled for the other to follow him.
They passed through the dining area, gaming area, and bathing area, arriving at a gold-inlaid and jade-carved bedroom. There was only one bed in the bedroom, but it was two meters in both length and width. The bed was gorgeously decorated, its bedding as soft as a cloud.
Someday, I am going to buy a bed like this too. Amidst Linnia’s inexplicably playful smile, Roy silently vowed to himself.
“Sleeping together?” he asked bluntly.
“If my dear allows it,” Linnia responded ambiguously, lightly biting his lower lip.
“That smile is a bit fake,” Roy’s expression remained unchanged. “The kind of gaze from someone who actually wants to sleep with me does not look like that.” That kind of gaze should be thick, like a lewd and smug look that practically dripped black sludge. Some self-righteous faces flashed briefly across his mind before sinking back into the ruins of buried memories.
Linnia let out a soft hum and raised an eyebrow. He performed a bizarre curtain-call bow, turned, and walked out of the room, not saying a single word.
Indeed, it was just teasing. Whether in the human world or the Zerg world, those with money and power were all the same.
Roy walked over to the bed and stroked the soft bedding. As he got closer, the exquisitely crafted large bed exuded a decadent floral fragrance. Like its owner, a single glance allowed one to glimpse all the bustling vanities of the world, carrying an excessive and ominous beauty.
He took off his shoes and lay down fully clothed.
Four star-hours later, the starship fleet landed at the palace’s landing field.
A massive crowd of Zergs swarmed out from the palace to greet them, lining up outside the main starship’s hatch to bow and welcome them.
When Linnia received the report that the starship had arrived, he was sitting blankly on the sofa. He lowered his head slightly, using the bangs on his forehead to conceal the emotions in his eyes amidst the adulation of the military females, gently rubbing the old-fashioned pocket watch in his hand. Expressionless and silent. In that silence, his innate beauty took on a terrifying quality, like a flower poured in concrete.
After being dazed for a moment, he stood up. The corners of his lips curved upward, and vitality and vigor took root and sprouted in this body once again.
“Let us go. First, go wake up my close friend; do not let the bugs waiting to welcome us wait too long.”
“Understood.” The well-trained military females followed closely behind him toward the starship’s master bedroom.
Passing through the ostentatious starship sectors and pushing open the floral-carved door, Linnia’s gaze froze on the bed. He blinked to make sure he was not seeing things, then scanned the room carefully once more.
Empty.
“Someone has abducted my close friend,” the male roared angrily. “Inform the guard unit to find him, quickly!”
The military females panicked as well. Not only because the missing person was the eldest prince’s close friend, but also because he was a male Lord who for some reason had not been officially registered. Having finally found him, losing him right under their watch was no laughing matter.
“As you command!” the lead major gritted his teeth. Leaving his subordinates behind to guard the Eldest Prince, he went personally to notify the royal guard unit.
Furious, Linnia turned and walked out of the bedroom. Recalling the few heartbreaking moments of his childhood to suppress his genuine laughter, he walked down the starship with tears in his eyes.
He threw himself straight into the arms of his reliable younger female brother, grinning from ear to ear against the other’s broad chest and laughing silently.