“If I say no.”
Carlos calmly countered, trying to pull his hand back.
But although this insect’s tone seemed polite and respectful, the grip on Carlos’s hand was incredibly strong, impossible to break free from, clearly indicating that they were not friendly.
“You’ll probably have to come with us. Our boss is truly ‘full of sincerity.'”
The red-haired insect restrained Carlos, while another insect had already lifted the unconscious white-haired female insect.
“Where are you taking him?” The current situation was not favorable, but Carlos was surprisingly calm.
Carlos looked at the female insect who had already been restrained. Zelan was now completely unconscious, his head weakly tilted, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth and sliding down his neck, indicating a precarious condition.
Only the slight rise and fall of the female insect’s chest showed that he still had a breath of life left.
“Oh? Sir, are you very concerned about this insect slave?”
The visitor glanced at the restrained white-haired female insect and continued with a light laugh. “2757 is an insect slave from Sweet Home. Of course, he’ll be locked back up. Where else could he go?”
They seemed to have changed their plan.
Based on the tone of these insects, Carlos made a preliminary judgment.
If they intended to dispose of Zelan, there would be no need to say “lock him back up.” This clearly indicated that they were taking the female insect back for further arrangements, rather than disposing of him in some deserted place.
Carlos’s expression remained unchanged, but he secretly felt relieved inside.
“As for you, sir, please.”
The red-haired insect still firmly gripped Carlos’s arm, gesturing toward a passageway entrance, without loosening his grip at all.
Carlos even wanted to sneer. If he weren’t a male insect, he probably would have been tied up already, without all this formalistic nonsense.
“Let go. I have legs. I can walk myself.”
“Sir, that would be even better. Using force against such a noble male insect is something neither of us wants to see.”
The red-haired female insect had also seen many male insects and helped the boss tie up many male insects, though they were only low-level ones. In this remote star system, they were still rare creatures.
Those low-level male insects were all flabby, neglected exercise, and most had deformed bodies due to indulgence in luxury and extravagance. When tying them up, they were all frightened like screaming chickens, capable of piercing an insect’s eardrums.
But the male insect before him was completely different—tall and slender, pleasing to look at. Even when encountering “being tied up,” his demeanor was calm and composed, just… just a bit like something?
Ah, right! Just like what the boss said—a white lotus flower emerging from mud without being stained!
The red-haired female insect’s cultural level was not high. His vocabulary couldn’t support him thinking of any profound words, so after thinking for a long time, he came up with this absurd description.
“Then please come this way.”
Carlos followed the direction indicated by the red-haired female insect and began walking.
In his view, Zelan had already been taken away by the other two insects, his figure shrinking until he could no longer see him.
Carlos was taken by several insects to a secret room.
It was hard to imagine that such a place could exist near the arena.
He initially surveyed the room. It wasn’t small, but there were no windows inside. Only the door made of special metal at the entrance was the sole exit.
The entire room was decorated in a mix of dark red and deep black, with a king-sized bed placed in the center, crafted with extravagant materials. In one corner, there was a bathroom—though entirely transparent. On the other side, against the wall, stood a massive cabinet of unknown purpose.
Carlos stepped forward to inspect it. He tentatively tugged on the cabinet door, which surprisingly wasn’t locked. With a slight effort, he opened it fully, but after just one glance, he swiftly shut it again.
Good heavens, it was practically unbearable to look at.
Carlos felt that rather than censoring the contents of that entire cabinet, it would be more convenient to censor his own eyes. The sheer amount of inappropriate items inside was almost overwhelming—truly an eyesore to the extreme.
But gradually, he sensed something off. This peculiar room seemed somewhat designed for that kind of purpose.
Hah, was he being treated like a canary bird?
Had the owner of Sweet Home taken an interest in him as a male insect? Or perhaps, intended to secretly sell him off like auction merchandise?
He calmly opened the smart device on his hand.
The insects outside hadn’t searched him when they locked him up, nor had they tried to remove his mask. It appeared they were wary of the “owner” and dared not casually touch this male insect.
As expected, the smart device couldn’t connect to the network at all. It was hard to imagine encountering a disconnected situation even in interstellar space.
Most likely, signal-blocking devices or similar measures had been installed here, with thorough preparations made. That’s why they confidently ignored his smart device.
“System, can you find a way to contact the outside world?”
【I’m sorry, host. Although I can hack into smart device systems, there’s no network signal here, so I can’t do anything, wuwuwu.】
“Stop, stop! I understand. Please don’t wuwu.”
Another approach was needed.
Carlos sat on the sofa pondering, completely devoid of the sorrow or panic one might feel facing imminent disaster.
The priority was still to escape first.
Although the door appeared sturdy, its soundproofing wasn’t as effective as imagined.
He faintly overheard the two insects chatting outside earlier. Carlos slowed his breathing rhythm, quietly eavesdropping.
“Can we take off that insect’s mask to look? I… I-I-I’m really so curious.”
Good heavens, the guard insect sounded like a stammerer.
“Look at what crap! You dare touch the owner’s insect? The owner hasn’t even looked, what insect crap are you looking at!”
This irritable insect must be the red-haired punk from earlier.
“Wh-wh-wh-what do we do now? Just guard here?”
“Normally, we should guard here. But today’s situation is a bit special. On the way, the boss instructed us that the owner is furious again and needs it urgently.”
“Wh-wh-what does urgently mean? Is the owner coming?”
“Exactly, we need to prepare before the owner arrives. And seriously, can you straighten out your tongue before speaking!”
“No problem! I-I-I’ll try hard.”
Red-haired punk:…
Honestly, Carlos also found it particularly taxing to listen. This punk had voiced his own thoughts.
“I heard the boss likes navel oranges. To make sure the boss enjoys himself later, we need to administer the drug to the male insect inside beforehand. Got it! When we go in, move quickly and don’t cause any trouble.”
Then came the sound of unlocking at the door—the two insects outside were about to enter!
Carlos quickly withdrew his ear and sat back, pretending he hadn’t done anything.
The red-haired insect leisurely entered the room, smiling at Carlos. “Honored sir, are you resting well?”
Seeing the male insect didn’t respond, he continued on his own. “Our boss will be here soon, but before that, to ensure our boss is pleased and you suffer less physical harm, we need to administer something to you.”
Realizing the situation was dire, Carlos tried to force his way out, but before he could move more than a few steps, the stammering insect pressed him back onto the sofa. The male insect’s strength was completely unmatched against the well-trained female insect.
“Hold him tight, don’t let him move around.”
After giving the command, the red-haired insect took out a bottle of medicine from the nearby cabinet.
The pale pink medicine was contained in a small glass bottle, looking extremely ominous. The red-haired insect inserted one end of the syringe into the medicine, drawing a full syringe, then professionally expelled the excess air.
A pale pink liquid arched from the tip, dripping onto the male insect’s neck, leaving a cherry-red stain.
Carlos had seen this kind of medicine in the black market. Among insects, female insects have fixed mating periods, but male insects are quite contrary. They don’t have such special circumstances. Some male insects use this drug to add fun when marking female insects.
But more often, female insects buy this drug to lure male insects, hoping to “cook the rice before it’s raw,” and its sales are astonishingly high.
In short, it’s a stimulant, but with stronger effects.
However, the concentration of this drug before him had deepened to a dark pink. One injection could likely make an insect lose all sense of direction.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be quick,” the red-haired insect chuckled lightly.
Carlos’ shoulders were now firmly pressed against the sofa, unable to move at all. Even if he tried to stop the red-haired insect’s actions, it was like a mayfly trying to shake a tree—utterly ineffective.
“Wait… wait!”
A chill spread across his neck, followed by a sharp pain.
The cold liquid slowly flowed along the vein.
This couldn’t continue.
A sense of helplessness rose in Carlos’ heart. He summoned his last ounce of strength and slapped the needle on his neck.
Under this forceful impact, the slender needle remained embedded in Carlos’ neck on one end, while the other end separated from the syringe, breaking into two parts. Half of the liquid in the syringe hadn’t been injected.
The two insects were startled by Carlos’ move. They never expected the male insect’s last desperate struggle could muster such strength.
“What do we do now? Should we change the syringe?”
The red-haired insect glanced at the time on his smart device, then looked at Carlos panting on the sofa, hesitating briefly. “Let’s not bother. Time is tight now; half a syringe should be enough.”
The two insects returned to the door, locking Carlos inside the secret room.
When the door closed, it slammed against the frame with a thunderous sound.
But even such a loud noise seemed distant to Carlos, unheard at all.
It felt as if a medicinal pestle were churning inside his brain, only now it wasn’t herbs being pounded, but his own brain matter.
A dull, throbbing pain spread downward from his skull, while a wave of heat radiated from the injection site. Carlos felt as though his entire body were on fire.
The sofa beneath him no longer felt like a sofa. It had transformed into a pool of scalding magma, threatening to engulf and cook his entire body.
Under the influence of the drug, his body seemed to be slipping entirely out of his control, enough to drive any insect mad.
Seeing the host in this state, the system panicked.
【Host! Waaah! Host, are you okay?】
Carlos’s consciousness was already beginning to blur. The fact that he could still speak was only due to sheer willpower.
“Ugh… System, can you adjust this body’s senses right now?”
【I’m sorry, Host. I’m still a newly appointed beginner system. Since I haven’t succeeded in any missions yet, I haven’t been able to upgrade, and I don’t have that function unlocked for now.】 The system’s voice trembled, on the verge of another breakdown.
The system’s noise made Carlos’s head ache even more, but he vaguely remembered that the system still had one other function.
“Then… mental electric shock, right now. Adjust the current… make it weaker, but don’t stop!”
Having reduced himself to such a pitiful state, Carlos felt like laughing at himself. Now, the only way to clear his mind was to fight poison with poison.
He had to escape. There was no time to waste.
【Alright, Host, I’ll start now!】
As soon as the system finished speaking, a familiar, sharp pain pierced Carlos’s brain.
Pain on top of pain.
The two types of agony clashed in Carlos’s mind, creating an effect somewhat like the pestle pounding from above while the electric current surged from below. They formed a counterbalance, barely managing to preserve his clarity of consciousness.
Crash—
Carlos knocked over the bottles and jars on the table, sending glass shattering across the floor with a piercing sound.
Immediately after, Carlos collapsed onto the ground, letting out a loud, agonized wail that instantly alerted the insects outside the door.
“H-he-he, what’s wrong with him?” The stuttering insect pushed the door open, his face filled with shock.
The red-haired punk glanced at the male insect writhing on the floor. The male insect was clutching his head in agony, curled into a tight ball, his eyes nearly rolling back into his skull. It was clear something was seriously wrong.
Logically, the drug shouldn’t have had this kind of effect, but the male insect’s suffering didn’t seem feigned. The red-haired female insect even began to wonder if high-ranking male insects were just too fragile, unable to withstand even the slightest discomfort.
“Quick, contact the boss and get a medic!”
The stuttering insect didn’t dare waste a second. He immediately pulled out his smart device and started typing a message.
“You idiot, have you forgotten that the signal around here has been jammed for ages? What good is sending a message on your smart device?”
“Oh, oh, right, right.”
“Right, my foot! The walkie-talkie, get the walkie-talkie!”
“Okay, okay, I’ll get it right now!”
The seemingly incompetent stuttering insect rummaged through his pockets but found nothing. Unconvinced, he patted everything hanging from his waist. The keys jingled crisply, but there was no sign of anything resembling a walkie-talkie.
“Th-th-that… I think I forgot to bring it.”
“Forgot where?”
“I… I forgot.”
“You idiot!” The red-haired punk slapped the stuttering bug’s head with such force that it left the bug’s brain buzzing.
“If something goes wrong with this male bug, won’t we have to answer to the boss with our heads? Do you want to die?! If you don’t care about your life, don’t drag me down with you!”
The red-haired punk bug was practically on the verge of a meltdown right there. What kind of useless teammate had he ended up with?!
“Now I’m going to find the boss. You hurry and get a medic bug! Move fast!”
After saying this, the red-haired bug immediately dashed out. Before leaving, he double-checked that both locks were securely fastened, ensuring the bug inside couldn’t possibly escape, before finally feeling at ease.
After a chaotic flurry of activity, the secret room fell silent once more.
Once the two bugs outside had been gone for a while, the male bug on the ground struggled to his feet, leaning against the wall for support.
The bug, who had been in so much pain that his eyes were rolling back, was now clearly and fully conscious.