Chapter 197: The Stranded Male Zerg × The Heavenly Garuda Emperor (15): He Said He’d Let the Male Zerg Raise the Eggs, but He Never Said How Many

The hotels at the transit station naturally couldn't compare with those on Capital Star or tourist planets.

Carl had never stayed anywhere so cramped before. Even the lights were dim, taking quite a while after being switched on before gradually brightening.

But when he thought about the cave they'd lived in back on the desolate planet, he suddenly didn't have much to complain about.

After everything he'd gone through there, he'd discovered that his tolerance for harsh environments was far greater than he'd thought.

Ironically, Ares, who normally cared even less about his surroundings, went and had all the bedding and pillows replaced with new ones.

Carl took off his hood and black robe, then went into the bathroom to shower.

The bathroom here wasn't even as nice as the stream pool where Ares had heated water for him back then. At least that place had beautiful mountains and clear water, with pleasant surroundings.

Carl quickly emerged from the bathroom.

Ares was sitting on the bed with no intention of taking a shower himself.

The distinct scent of gunpowder was already noticeable in the room.

It was Ares's pheromones.

His face was expressionless, but his pheromones were already spilling beyond his control.

Carl walked over and discovered that Ares truly was in terrible condition. He had removed the disguise that altered his appearance. His face was unnaturally pale, yet flushed as though with fever, and even his eyes were hazy.

The moment Carl came close, Ares instinctively followed his scent and leaned toward him.

Greedily searching over his body.

It was just a task.

Carl undid the ties, letting himself fall against Ares's face.

The Heavenly Garuda's eyes cleared slightly, only to grow hazy beneath the influence of the pheromones once more.

Perhaps it was because of the psychic mark, or perhaps because this was the first time they had come into completely unobstructed contact, but the experience was entirely different from before.

Carl had originally thought that the days he'd spent fooling around with Ares on the desolate planet had already represented the absolute limit of pleasure. But only after truly coming into complete contact with Ares did he realize it could go even further. The sensation made his scalp tingle, until even his psychic power seemed to go numb.

So it turned out that something like this didn't require feelings at all. Instinct alone could bring this much pleasure, even though he clearly hated this Heavenly Garuda so much.

Carl bit Ares's shoulder. He left no mark whatsoever, yet it made Ares's muscles clench tightly.

His voice sounded good too.

Carl thought hazily.

Ares wasn't the type to say much at times like this, but neither would he deliberately suppress his breathing or sounds. Back on the desolate planet, with no one around them in any direction, there had been even less reason to restrain himself.

Carl had especially loved listening to his voice back then. It sounded particularly good echoing through the cave, making a Zerg's ears tingle.

There was no echo now, but the shabby hotel's soundproofing was terrible. They could hear the commotion outside, which meant their own sounds might travel out as well, bringing a different kind of thrill.

Everything else about him was good too.

If Carl ignored the fact that this Heavenly Garuda had deceived him, he couldn't find anything to complain about.

Even Ares's excessively Heavenly Garuda-like personality—the arrogance unique to a Heavenly Garuda female possessing top-tier abilities—was simply part of what made him who he was.

Perhaps Ares really had been deprived of pheromones for far too long. Even at the very end, he kept holding on to Carl and refused to let him leave.

Carl had no choice but to lie on top of him and rest, held in his arms.

Ares lay on his back, still unable to fully come back to his senses.

It had been a very long time since he'd experienced such complete satisfaction. Perhaps this was even the first time it had ever reached this degree. His body had finally received a male Zerg's pheromones directly and obtained genuine satisfaction.

But it still wasn't enough.

He wanted more.

"Carl."

He softly called the name of his male Zerg, running a hand through his striking hair.

"I missed you very much," he said hoarsely.

A powerful, hard-edged Heavenly Garuda warrior who regarded unnecessary emotions as weakness.

For the first time, he showed weakness to a male Zerg.

Carl turned his head in Ares's embrace, brows slightly furrowed. He felt that their relationship wasn't one in which they should be saying unnecessary things like that.

So he dragged the conversation back to what they actually needed to discuss.

"When did you get pregnant?"

This time, Ares said nothing.

Carl sensed that something was wrong. A thoughtful look flickered through his eyes before he guessed:

"You tampered with the condoms."

"...No."

Ares wouldn't admit to something he hadn't done.

Carl also thought he probably wouldn't go that far, but still breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the denial.

But that left even fewer possibilities.

And the remaining possibilities might be even harder to accept.

"Did you do something to me while I was asleep? Or did I do something to you while I was sleeping..."

Carl pursed his lips and looked at him uneasily.

From the male Zerg's expression, it seemed that if Ares admitted to either possibility, Carl would immediately shoulder the guilt and responsibility and take care of him to the very end.

Ares stroked his beautiful face, smoothing the furrow between his brows.

"No. Neither happened. You didn't do anything to me."

Carl: "?"

Then what happened?

How had he gotten pregnant?

Or rather...

Was he actually pregnant at all?

Carl's pupils contracted. He hurriedly opened his terminal and scanned Ares, conducting a simple physical examination.

Ares's body stiffened.

He silently stared at Carl, the hand resting on him tightening slightly.

The results quickly appeared on the light screen.

Not pregnant.

No signs of pregnancy.

Carl slowly turned his head toward Ares, his bright red eyes widening enormously.

They were still intimately joined.

The instant he realized that, fury blazed through those eyes.

"You!"

Carl shouted furiously and abruptly pulled backward, breaking free of Ares's embrace with a pop. He was so angry that his teeth clenched together.

Ares tried to steady him, but Carl had already retreated to the foot of the bed, glaring furiously at the pheromones still leaking from him.

Within a second, Carl threw on some clothes and got off the bed, almost desperately putting distance between them. His hands trembled as he dressed, his jaw shaking with rage.

Ares knew he was in the wrong and didn't dare complain about the sudden emptiness. Afraid Carl might actually make himself ill from anger, he hurried over, rubbing his back to help calm him down.

"Didn't you say you didn't want an egg? Isn't it better that I'm not pregnant?"

"You tricked me into coming here by claiming you were deprived of pheromones!"

And he'd actually given him his pheromones once!

Carl slapped his hand away irritably, not wanting to remain here for another second.

"The pheromone deprivation was real. It just wasn't because of pregnancy. It was because I'm in mating season," Ares said.

Carl turned his head and glanced at him.

He didn't dare believe him.

At this point, he regarded everything Ares said with suspicion.

Faced with the male Zerg's wary, distrustful gaze, Ares explained with pale lips, almost desperately:

"On the desolate planet, I was exposed to your pheromones too many times without ever truly receiving them. That triggered my mating season. It's stronger than any I've experienced before, almost impossible for me to suppress on my own."

He had to tell him everything.

Ares had a premonition that if Carl walked away this time, he really would lose him.

Carl remained where he was, silent and unmoving.

He had just scanned Ares's body himself. The examination report really had warned that his female pheromone levels were abnormally high, which was generally evidence that a female had entered mating season.

With pheromone levels this high and no male Zerg pheromones to balance them, they genuinely couldn't come back down.

When Ares had previously said that he could endure it for a few months until it passed, he had probably meant enduring this unusually severe mating season.

And doing that might cause irreversible damage to his body.

"Go find another male to help you through your mating season," Carl said stiffly.

Ares saw his wavering and knew perfectly well that this male Zerg had a sharp tongue but a soft heart.

Tentatively, he reached for Carl's hand.

This time, Carl didn't shake him off.

"I told you. I only want you."

He hooked his fingers around Carl's and slowly pulled him closer.

Carl had no idea where Ares had learned these tricks.

"Are you seriously planning never to marry a male for the rest of your life?" Carl asked stubbornly.

Ares looked at the male Zerg in front of him.

Carl clearly didn't include himself among the "males" he was talking about, because he was a male Zerg of the Zerg race.

If Carl wasn't included, then Ares simply wouldn't marry anyone.

"I won't."

After saying that, Ares saw that Carl didn't answer, so he asked in return:

"What about you? Will you marry female Zergs?"

"I don't have to answer your questions."

Carl spoke sullenly, but his body finally relaxed, allowing the Heavenly Garuda to pull him back into his arms.

However, when Ares tried to go a step further, Carl still frowned and asked:

"Do you absolutely need to receive pheromones directly? Can't this be solved some other way?"

Ares gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"We already tried many different methods on the desolate planet. None of them could bring genuine satisfaction. They only made the mating season erupt even more violently after being suppressed."

"If this really makes things difficult for you, I can endure it."

Ares didn't want Carl to suffer.

Carl rolled his eyes at him.

He knew perfectly well how much damage forcing himself to endure it could cause.

Pheromone levels this high were practically unheard of. It was as though Ares's entire body were anticipating reproduction and conception.

Carl frowned.

"If you get pregnant with eggs..."

"The probability is extremely, extremely low. So low it can basically be ignored," Ares reassured him.

"What if?" Carl stubbornly demanded a clear answer. "What if you do get pregnant?"

"I'll raise them," Ares said.

"Dream on!"

Carl had no intention of letting him get off that easily.

He poked at the soft flesh of the Heavenly Garuda's body, trying to bargain with him.

"The eggs belong to me. I'll raise them."

Ares indulgently allowed Carl's fingertip to poke him, but refused to yield.

"No. I have an imperial throne that needs an heir."

Carl didn't care.

"According to the law, custody of hatchlings is preferentially awarded to the male Zerg capable of providing Psychic Soothing, unless the male Zerg voluntarily gives up his claim to custody."

"Heavenly Garuda law doesn't have that provision."

Having already received one round of pheromones, Ares's mind was clear again, and his tone became firm as well.

Carl snapped angrily:

"Do you still want my pheromones or not?"

"...I do."

"Then we'll do it my way! Put it in a contract and sign it!"

Carl no longer trusted his verbal promises.

Ares had to put it in writing.

The Heavenly Garuda Emperor reluctantly began writing.

In the end, however, he still played a little word game.

He'd said he'd let the male Zerg raise the eggs, but he'd never said how many eggs he would give him.

On that particular point, Ares was quite confident.

Either he wouldn't get pregnant at all, or if he did, there would definitely be two eggs.

"Both parties retain visitation rights," Ares said.

Carl: "?"

Visitation rights were visitation rights, but what did he mean by both parties retaining visitation rights?

Carl gave Ares a suspicious look, took the contract over and examined it, then finally nodded.

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