Everything, everything, made Samuel feel disgusted.
Far away on the main star, Samuel sat at his desk. He had just finished dealing with news of a disturbance caused by his exiled father. His temples throbbed with irritation as he received another email from Chris. Since that male had appeared on the border planet, the correspondence between him and Chris had become exceptionally frequent.
Before clicking the email, Samuel had a momentary lapse into cynical thought. He wondered what it was this time. Was that male acting out or making unreasonable demands? Had Chris finally reached his breaking point with him? He questioned if it had been a mistake to let the male stay there just because of the superficial praise Chris had included in previous emails.
Samuel wore a black silk shirt that strained against his firm, powerful chest muscles. The buttons were fastened meticulously to the very top, hiding everything from view. He allowed his hair to stray; while working in the Marshal’s estate without outsiders present, he did not mind an occasional messy lock of hair. Thinking of the typical unreasonable behavior of males, a flash of worry and disgust crossed his dark red eyes.
Samuel had always harbored a deep prejudice against males. Unlike most female insects of the Zerg race, whose nature was to please males due to genetic inheritance, Samuel was different. Most females would forgive a male even if he were wicked, fickle, or physically abusive. Only the most extreme cases of abuse or murder were unforgivable, though such males were now sanctioned by Federation law.
Samuel’s hatred stemmed from his upbringing. Like many Zerg males, his father was fickle and promiscuous, having married many females. That alone was expected, as it was considered a survival law etched into Zerg genes to ensure reproduction in a society with few males and many females. However, his father was not just promiscuous; he was exceptionally violent.
Samuel was the product of a political marriage between his male and female parents. Even as a developing SSS-rank female in the womb, he had formed a perception of the outside world. He sensed his father frequently beating his mother; torture and bloodshed were daily occurrences. A female’s physical recovery is incredibly strong, making them particularly resilient to physical abuse. Despite being beaten and tortured daily, his mother instinctively protected her belly, ensuring Samuel remained safe inside.
From the moment he gained consciousness, his mother lived in a state of abuse and humiliation. No one blamed the male. Even his mother’s family would not offend an S-rank male for the sake of an S-rank female. In those days, insulting and beating females was considered normal behavior. Even after he was born and struggled to break his shell, his mother remained a punching bag for his father’s rage.
Shortly after hatching, Samuel personally witnessed his father, face twisted with violence and impatience, beat his mother with torture instruments until she could no longer stand. She was denied medical treatment and thrown out into the freezing snow. His mother, who had always been resilient enough to survive past torments, withered quickly like a dying flower. Even though he was a newborn, Samuel knew her life force had reached its end.
Since marrying her, that male had never performed a single mental combing for her. He used her only as an outlet for his anger and was stingy even with his pheromones. Under the daily grind of mental and physical torture, even a powerful female could not hold on. After seeing her child hatch, his mother closed her gentle eyes forever in a sense of relief.
Thanks to his powerful rank and status as a cub, Samuel did not suffer physical abuse. However, he was utterly ignored. That male was as stingy with mental combing for Samuel as he had been for his mother. Samuel grew up struggling in a dark, damp attic. He watched many females being married into the household only to be carried out later wrapped in white sheets. He witnessed the various debauched parties the male hosted. Everything, everything, made him feel disgusted and nauseated.
As soon as he reached adulthood, he enrolled in the military academy and moved out of that rotten home. His rank was powerful; starting as an SS-rank, he successfully raised his level through constant training and growth to SSS-rank, becoming the only SSS-rank female in the entire Zerg Federation and even the Sky-Gar Empire.
Decades later, he became the Marshal of the Zerg. Upon taking office, the entire race witnessed Marshal Samuel’s decisive and cold-hearted nature. First, he amended the Federation laws to improve the status of females. Despite united opposition from the males, his stance remained firm and the law was enacted. Next, he convicted his own father and exiled him to a remote planet, earning Samuel a reputation for being cold-blooded and ungrateful.
However, relying on his powerful strength and strategic mind, Samuel led the Zerg to seize territory from the Sky-Gar. A saying spread throughout the race that wherever Marshal Samuel was, there was no defeat. History is written by the victors and the strong. He washed away the derogatory titles and gradually gained the love and following of the people, becoming an idol to many.
Due to his childhood experiences, he felt a strong repulsion toward males. Combined with his powerful SSS-rank spiritual sea, no male could get close enough to comb his mind. Some males would even be accidentally injured by the backlash. Consequently, Marshal Samuel had never received a mental combing in his life. His spiritual sea was scarred from daily pollution.
Even though sub-females had developed rudimentary mental combing machines, they were ineffective for an SSS-rank female. His powerful self-control prevented him from losing his mind to the collapse of his spiritual sea, but if he did not receive a combing soon, he would only have a few years left to live. Samuel thought that before he lost his sanity, he must settle all remaining work, including the laws protecting females and the war with the Sky-Gar. Then, he would find a place billions of light-years away and self-destruct. Otherwise, an SSS-rank female losing control would be a threat equivalent to a nuclear weapon to the Zerg race.
Thinking of these old memories, Samuel’s dark red eyes filled with hostility. His face was like frost as he suppressed his internal violence and the piercing pain of his spiritual sea. He reached out and clicked the email. Upon reading the content, the hostility in Samuel’s eyes quickly vanished. His pupils constricted in disbelief. He read it over and over, his eyes shifting from shock to confusion.
The terminal displayed the email Chris had sent an hour ago. In a tone of uncontrollable excitement, Chris wrote that Winslow, the male, had decided to stay on the border planet to work as a mental comber. Because Samuel had recently led the Zerg to take a resource-rich planet from the Sky-Gar, friction on the border had been constant, with frequent skirmishes. Interstellar beasts and space pirates were also prowling the borders. Military females were dying because their spiritual seas collapsed without timely treatment.
At such a time, a male suddenly volunteering to be a mental comber on the border was like a godsend. Samuel had been troubled by this issue for a while. The newly developed combing machines were too precious and rare to be moved easily and had certain risks. The border desperately needed male mental combers. However, arrogant males did not care about military rank rewards and they had no shortage of money from their fawning pursuers. Even males in prison could not be easily moved to a desolate border planet. No one would agree to it.
While he was frustrated, Chris brought such news. He wondered how that was possible. Males were selfish creatures who cared for no one but themselves. Samuel’s gaze shifted back to the glowing screen, still utterly puzzled. He could not understand how a male, after being stranded on a border planet, would not only refrain from crying to be sent back to the main star but actually request to work there.
Samuel lowered his dark red eyes, his long lashes trembling slightly as his shock faded. He looked up, opened the communication channel, and dialed. The ringing continued until the call was answered. A crisp, respectful voice filled the quiet study. “Marshal, what are your orders?”
“The male named Winslow I asked you to investigate last time, is there any news?” Samuel’s deep voice reached the other side.
“I found it, Marshal. I was just about to send it to you.”
“No need to send it. Tell me the result directly. Which family does he belong to?”
“Yes, Marshal,” the voice replied respectfully after a brief pause. “According to the investigation, there is no male named Winslow in the Zerg Federation. No males have been kidnapped recently, and no male aircraft has traveled near the border planet.”
Samuel’s dark red eyes narrowed. His long, calloused fingers tapped the desk slowly and rhythmically. After a long silence, he cut the communication and made a decision. Regardless of the male’s purpose, whether he was sent by the Sky-Gar or came from elsewhere, the border planet currently needed a male for mental combing. He was just one male; he could not cause much trouble as long as he was strictly supervised.
Calculations swirled in Samuel’s eyes. As long as he was kept under tight watch, he could only perform mental combing for the soldiers. However, someone needed to monitor him at all times. Samuel quickly chose the female for the job: Ylair. Chris was already too close to the male and was no longer suitable for supervision. Fortunately, there was another powerful S-rank female on the border. Ylair was impartial and would not easily soften his heart toward a male. He was the most suitable choice.
With that thought, Samuel opened the communication and initiated a video call with Ylair. A slightly raspy but undeniably excited voice came through. “Good day, Marshal Samuel.”