Chapter 196: The Stranded Male Zerg × The Heavenly Garuda Emperor (14): Otherwise, Where Did Ares’s Egg Come From?

The stranded male Zerg was brought back to the Zerg Federation, where he underwent the physical examination and psychological treatment arranged by the military.

He truthfully told the military doctor about everything he had experienced on the desolate planet, explaining that the Heavenly Garuda Emperor had never harmed him. On the contrary, Ares had saved his life and had protected and taken care of him the entire time.

Instead of being reassured, the doctor's expression became grave. He believed the male Zerg had developed hostage identification syndrome.

A Zerg's instinctive drive for survival, the tendency to submit when faced with the threat of death, and the instinctive admiration of the strong had caused him to develop emotional identification with the Heavenly Garuda Emperor, eventually forming a harmonious relationship with him.

Even at the very end, the Heavenly Garuda Emperor had intended to take this poor male Zerg away.

If a male Zerg were taken to the Heavenly Garuda Empire... it would be no different from hell.

The doctor told the male Zerg that all his emotions were merely normal survival responses.

Once he returned to a normal living environment, enjoyed being adored by everyone around him again, and married a few gentle, obedient female Zergs who could protect him, everything would pass.

Would it really pass?

Were his feelings for Ares truly born from his desire to survive?

The male Zerg couldn't tell.

He tried to question his own heart, but there was only emptiness and confusion there, as though a piece of it were missing.

...

The Heavenly Garuda Empire's government suddenly lifted the ban on all of An-shen's books, leaving the citizens of both races utterly baffled.

[What's going on? Did the Heavenly Garuda finally realize that the best way to make a book spread everywhere is to ban it? Isn't it a little too late to try fixing that by lifting the ban now?]

[That's not all. Their cultural department is making moves too. It looks like the Heavenly Garuda side wants to officially import An-shen's books. (Old Zerg aboard a starship staring at his light screen)]

[My god, is it because the Heavenly Garuda Emperor is the protagonist of this new book? Their Emperor hasn't actually taken a fancy to our male Lord, has he? No! Protect the male Lord!]

[There's still a whole bunch of Heavenly Garuda squatting under An-shen's new novel waiting for the next update. At this point, I don't even know how the story is supposed to continue.]

[Maybe: Many years later, the male Lord recalls this experience and tells it to his grandchildren, and then it gets adapted into an anti-war survival drama about his adventures on a desolate planet.]

[Or maybe: Many years later, the Heavenly Garuda Emperor married a whole bunch of males. They all looked like him, but none of them were him.]

[Yue. Exactly the kind of thing I expect from authors other than An-shen.]

[I heard the Heavenly Garuda went completely insane with joy when the ban was lifted. They can finally discuss the novels openly in everyday life and on social media. Screenshots are spreading everywhere like crazy. The sheer number of discussion posts in a single day actually crashed their StarNet. Even the Heavenly Garuda authorities probably never expected the books to be this popular, right?]

[Even if it started out as a sting operation, there's no way they can arrest anyone now. There are too many "fish."]

Besides the Heavenly Garuda lifting the ban on An-shen's books, the mysterious disappearance of the bouquet at Commander Morris's wedding also attracted widespread attention.

The entire wedding had been livestreamed across StarNet, with countless citizens watching online.

According to the custom in the game, the male Zerg would throw the bouquet on his wedding day, passing his happiness on to whoever caught it. Naturally, this part of the ceremony was especially anticipated.

And then, right there on the livestream, under the eyes of countless viewers, the bouquet vanished into thin air.

A game bug?

The viewers extracted that section of the footage and slowed it down hundreds of times. Only then did they finally catch sight of a spatial rift flashing past.

[What's that? A bug or some kind of game item?]

[It's way too smooth to be a bug, and there's no game item like that. It looks more like the ability of an extremely powerful female Zerg.]

The beta players who had attended the wedding were listed one by one and then eliminated as suspects.

None of them had managed to get the bouquet.

That left only the game's original creator, who also had authorization to log into the beta map.

The game's developers had previously issued a statement saying that the original version of the game's map came from An-shen.

And the only top-tier female Zerg who was with An-shen was...

The Marshal.

[??!]

[The Marshal actually came to steal the bouquet? (Utterly shocked)]

[Does that mean they're getting married?]

[Probably. The Marshal has been way too busy this past year. Once things settle down, it'll be time to start preparing for the wedding. They can't just keep being together without making it official forever. Most importantly... hurry up and let me see An-shen! (angry) I've replayed those tiny scraps of footage from the Legion Celebration so many times I've practically polished them smooth!]

[If the Marshal was there, was An-shen there too?]

[Now that you mention it, when I was watching the livestream, I think I saw the curtain on the second floor move a little. It was shortly after the bouquet disappeared. I thought it was just the wind, so I didn't pay attention.]

[I noticed that too! General Cyril and Commander Morris both secretly glanced upstairs at the time, and so did Major General Iso and Speaker Cassian. They looked kind of surprised. There was definitely something going on!]

[Good grief! The Marshal is too much! Possessiveness off the charts as always—he won't even let us catch a single glimpse! (pointing accusingly)]

As usual, the Marshal was taking the blame for An Ruo's social anxiety.

When An Ruo came across the discussion, he guiltily looked away.

He didn't like appearing in front of people, and appearing in front of Zergs was no different. An environment like the prison was what made him feel most comfortable.

Besides, what had been happening at the time... really wasn't something other Zergs should have seen.

Ulysses had been kissing him so thoroughly that he could barely breathe.

An Ruo had even worried that someone might have seen it, so he had specifically gone back to find a replay of the livestream.

Only to discover that the camera had deliberately—or perhaps coincidentally—shifted away at that exact moment. Aside from the curtain swaying slightly, nothing had been captured.

An Ruo breathed a huge sigh of relief.

It was enough for the two of them to know that the Marshal had kissed him. If any more Zergs saw it, he would faint.

The comments also mentioned that Morris, General Cyril, and the others had looked unusual at the time, as though they had noticed something.

With their perception, it would have been stranger if they hadn't noticed.

An Ruo was completely helpless.

For one brief moment, he wanted to tie them all up and threaten them into forgetting about it.

Or...

An Ruo thought about opening a document and writing something, but ultimately gave up.

He still didn't like interfering too much with reality.

Even if it wasn't guaranteed to work.

To this day, An Ruo still had no idea where his missing midnight snack had gone.

Perhaps the effect of writing a single sentence wasn't strong enough. There were too many variables, and it could easily be disrupted by all kinds of outside factors.

That was why [The mechanical Zerg will bring me a midnight snack in five minutes] had failed.

[Ulysses trips on flat ground] was probably the same.

But when something was written as a complete story with clear causes, consequences, and internal logic, it was much more likely to become reality.

Perhaps that was because he was an "author," rather than anything else.

An author lived through creating novels.

And so he couldn't stop writing either.

All he could do was control the direction as carefully as possible and give them a happy ending.

...

[H19 Transit Station.

It was located close to the border of the Zerg Federation, but technically belonged to a lawless neutral zone beyond the jurisdiction of any major power.

Some tourists and merchants traveling to the Zerg Federation stopped here to rest and replenish their energy supplies, but mercenaries, drifters, and undocumented residents were far more common. Star pirates occasionally appeared as well.

They came from all sorts of races. A plant alien with a red corpse-flower head could sit in a tavern drinking with a deep-sea alien sporting a blue octopus head, and both would think the other's head looked remarkably distinctive.

Even Zergs or Heavenly Garuda could walk among them without looking remotely out of place.

A male Zerg, however, still attracted a fair amount of attention.

Mostly because female Zergs of his own race tended to approach him.

The male Zerg sitting at the bar tugged his hat lower, concealing his conspicuous golden-red hair. He also tucked his fair arms, which bore no Zerg markings, beneath his robe.

Someone approached him anyway.

A tall Heavenly Garuda female sat down beside him and ordered the same drink he had.

A disguise device behind the other's ear altered his appearance, but a high-ranking male Zerg's psychic power could see through it at a glance.

Not to mention that the two of them shared an even deeper psychic connection.

The male Zerg was already in a bad mood. Seeing how pale and unwell the other looked while still drinking strong liquor only made his temper flare.

The Heavenly Garuda female sensed his emotions and froze slightly. He swirled the liquor in his glass twice but ultimately didn't drink it, setting the glass back on the counter.

He turned toward the male Zerg and struck up a conversation, an unusual glimmer in his rare purple eyes.

"So, should I call you Carl, or... Lord Eugene?"

The male Zerg was silent for a moment before saying, "Whatever you want."

"Then I'll stick with Carl."

Ares said, "That's the name belonging exclusively to my male Zerg."

Carl's brows drew together slightly, but he couldn't be bothered arguing with him over a single sentence.

"I didn't expect you to agree to see me." Ares sighed softly, his gaze gentling.

Carl snorted. "The way you looked inside the psychic landscape—weren't you deliberately trying to lure me out?"

Looking so... sexually frustrated that he seemed ready to die without a male Zerg's pheromones.

Ares froze.

"You... saw all of it?"

His female pheromones had been surging through his body, while he had no male Zerg pheromones to counterbalance them, so the condition had manifested in the representation of his true self within the psychic landscape as well.

Or rather, it had manifested even more blatantly there, stripped of all restraint. Pheromones overflowed from him as though he were a mindless beast crazed with the need to mate.

Carl didn't know why he had that sort of psychic connection with Ares either.

When he first "saw" it, he had thought he was having an erotic dream.

But when he touched the Ares inside his "dream," he received an extremely vivid psychic response.

It was the psychic fluctuation of a Heavenly Garuda female—unmistakable and deeply familiar.

Terrified, he made up an excuse and went to ask his male parent about it, only to learn that this was the legendary psychic mark.

A psychic mark said to appear only between those who shared "true love."

Carl nearly bit through his lip.

He and Ares hadn't even formed a physical mark yet, but they already had a psychic mark.

No.

Perhaps a physical mark had already been formed at some point without his knowledge.

Otherwise, where had Ares's egg come from?

Carl's expression darkened.

There was only one reason Ares could be suffering such an extreme lack of male Zerg pheromones.

He was pregnant.

The egg inside his abdomen needed nourishment from a male Zerg's pheromones.

When Ares saw Carl biting his lip until it was nearly bleeding, he worriedly reached toward his mouth, intending to stop him from hurting himself, only for Carl to dodge away.

Carl stared at him warily.

Ares's fingertips curled slightly. He withdrew his hand, his expression complicated.

"I thought your willingness to meet me meant our relationship had improved."

"Dream on! If it weren't for..."

Carl glanced at Ares's perfectly flat stomach, where no change whatsoever could be seen, then looked away.

"Otherwise, I never would've come."

Ares noticed where he was looking. He opened his mouth, then swallowed whatever he had been about to say and remained silent.

Carl looked at him suspiciously. He could sense that Ares was hiding something, but couldn't figure out what.

Eventually, he gave up trying to investigate such trivial details and merely asked:

"You haven't received any male pheromones during this entire time? Why?"

As Emperor of the Heavenly Garuda Empire, Ares could have as many males as he wanted. Carl couldn't understand why he would stubbornly endure this instead.

Even female Zergs wouldn't remain chaste for a male Zerg they hadn't married yet, much less a Heavenly Garuda noble female, whose culture didn't even have such a concept and who could legally possess multiple males.

Ares said, "I only want you."

It sounded like a heartfelt confession.

But spoken at a time like this, it somehow also sounded like a threat.

Carl was convinced Ares was threatening him.

Making things miserable for both of them.

"Why should I provide pheromones to a female from another empire?"

Carl bristled all over with anger, his voice sharp, practically puffing up into a pufferfish.

Ares thought to himself that if Carl truly hadn't wanted to give him any pheromones, he wouldn't have come here in the first place.

But this male Zerg had always been like this. Even after his heart softened, he was still covered in thorns on the outside.

And Ares still hadn't learned how to soothe a bristling male Zerg.

"You don't have to give me your pheromones..."

Ares considered his words, then followed Carl's logic and said:

"I'll just go back and keep enduring it. Maybe after a few months, it'll pass on its own."

That immediately made Carl explode.

Endure it for a few months and it would pass?!

Did he mean he was just going to endure it until the egg died?!

Both races struggled with reproduction. From their inherited memories to everything they had been taught growing up, both cultures impressed upon them the immense importance of offspring.

The only thing whose value could rival that of a male Zerg or male Heavenly Garuda was a hatchling.

Male Zergs and males represented reproduction, while hatchlings were reproduction made manifest—the continuation of their species itself.

And yet the Heavenly Garuda Emperor was this irresponsible.

He didn't care about the life of his own hatchling at all.

If the setting hadn't been inappropriate, and if Ares weren't pregnant, Carl would have wanted to fight him on the spot.

"Let's go to a hotel," Carl said, deflating for a moment.

Ares didn't understand why he had suddenly agreed again, but it was a good thing nonetheless.

He led the male Zerg out of the pitch-black tavern. Looking at the dilapidated, timeworn buildings outside, he thought for a moment before saying:

"The hotels around here aren't very good. Why don't we go to my aircraft instead?"

Carl wasn't about to fall for that.

"If I actually get on your aircraft, will I ever come back?"

For all he knew, he'd wake up after one night's sleep and find himself in the Heavenly Garuda Empire.

Carl had dared to come meet Ares alone mainly because the psychic mark gave him some confidence. Even if the Heavenly Garuda Emperor tried to do something to him, Carl would at least have a chance to fight back.

A marked female Zerg couldn't disobey a male Zerg's commands.

Carl didn't know whether Heavenly Garuda females worked exactly the same way, but he assumed the difference couldn't be too great.

They originated from the same source, after all. Surely, over millions of years, the Heavenly Garuda hadn't somehow developed psychic resistance and evolved this particular trait out of existence.

...Then again, considering how perverse the Heavenly Garuda were, perhaps it wasn't entirely impossible.

Carl fell silent for a moment, then repeated:

"Hotel."

Ares said nothing more and made the arrangements as Carl requested.

...]