Chapter 252: Could the Marshal Be Into Female Zergs?: Otherwise, There’d Be No Explaining Away the Marshal Kissing a 'Female Zerg' at Military Headquarters

“Marshal, Council Speaker Cassian is here to see you. Will you receive him?”

The electronic voice sounded, and An Ruo hurriedly put away the pastry he'd been feeding Ulysses, then looked at him expectantly.

Cassian—the Female Lord of the little albino, Ulysses's right-hand man, and also an important character who, near the very end of the original novel, switched sides on his deathbed and delivered confidential intelligence to the protagonist's faction.

Ulysses deeply regretted that his preparations hadn't been thorough enough. He'd forgotten to postpone his meeting with Cassian, and now, faced with the god's expectant gaze, he couldn't very well refuse the meeting at the last minute.

But... why was the god looking forward to seeing Cassian?

Ulysses grew suspicious.

Cassian wasn't a protagonist in the books, nor even an important supporting character. Even in <The Instructor>, the novel connected to Xi'an, he had never appeared directly.

And in reality, the god had never interacted with Cassian either.

Was there something else he'd overlooked?

Countless thoughts flashed through Ulysses's mind in an instant.

Could it be that “novel” he didn't know about?

Before <The Instructor>, <School Heartthrob>, and the other books now widely circulated among the Zerg race, the god had written another novel... the one in which Ulysses himself existed as the villain.

Ulysses narrowed his eyes slightly as a possibility occurred to him.

Was Cassian the “protagonist” of that novel?

Had Ulysses actually fallen at Cassian's hands?

That was certainly beyond his expectations.

Of course, Cassian wasn't necessarily the “protagonist.”

Ulysses pondered this as he summoned Cassian inside.

An Ruo stood unobtrusively behind and to the side of Ulysses, conscientiously fulfilling his duties as a personal guard. His keen Psychic Power vaguely sensed something, and he couldn't help looking at Ulysses beside him.

For some reason, he felt as though black miasma was pouring off Ulysses.

It seemed very ominous.

But when he looked more carefully, Ulysses seemed exactly the same as always—handsome and composed, flawless from every angle, so photogenic he looked like a publicity shot no matter where you viewed him from. His aura was gentle, making him seem perfectly approachable.

Maybe what An Ruo had sensed just now was only his imagination?

A knock sounded at the door, and An Ruo looked away toward the entrance.

Cassian requested entry.

“Come in,” Ulysses said in a deep voice.

The door opened, and the Council Speaker with long red hair walked inside.

His long hair was tied back with a ribbon, a single lock falling over his shoulder. His clothing carried a somewhat old-fashioned aristocratic quality, while his bearing was composed and elegant.

This was Cassian, the character who shone as brightly and dazzlingly as flame in the book.

An Ruo met his golden eyes, like the wick of a candle, carrying both light and heat.

The instant he saw him, An Ruo understood the attraction a flame held for a white moth.

Meeting the gaze of the unfamiliar... military female behind the Marshal, Cassian also froze for a moment.

Why was there such a military female in the Marshal's office?

Of course, there was nothing strange about a military female being here. Whether they were reporting work or receiving orders, military females entering and leaving the Marshal's office was perfectly normal.

But this military female was standing unusually close to the Marshal, in a position that indicated an extraordinary degree of trust. Yet Cassian had absolutely no impression of such a trusted confidant of the Marshal.

And besides...

He was far too beautiful.

Beautiful enough that simply appearing beside another Zerg somehow made the atmosphere seem ambiguous.

There was also an inexplicable sense of familiarity about him, as though he resembled some Zerg...

But... who?

Cassian couldn't remember.

Before leaving prison, An Ruo had done some styling and disguise to make himself look more like a female Zerg. Nor had he forgotten the core component of his outfit—Psychic Suggestion. Any Zerg who saw him would instinctively think of him as a female Zerg and never associate him with a Male Zerg.

He wasn't worried about Cassian recognizing him at all, so he openly stared at Cassian with obvious curiosity.

Cassian's mood grew even stranger.

“Ahem.” Ulysses coughed lightly, interrupting the repeated glances Cassian was directing behind him.

A married female Zerg staring at a Male Zerg like that.

Since when had Council Speaker Cassian's family values become so frivolous?

Considering Cassian didn't know that An was a Male Zerg, Ulysses could temporarily refrain from holding it against him.

But that didn't mean he could tolerate Cassian repeatedly getting distracted right in front of him.

“What is it?” Ulysses asked in a deep voice, reminding Cassian not to forget his actual business.

Finish your report and leave.

Cassian took out a document. Seeing that the Marshal had no intention of asking the military female to leave, he hesitated before stepping forward to report.

“This is the detailed arrangement for the official launch of the Psychic Soothing device... Please review it.”

Psychic Soothing device?

Hearing that, An Ruo curiously leaned over to look as well.

Was he really about to lose his job?

A similar device had appeared toward the later stages of the original novel, but it had only been introduced within the military and had many restrictions. It wasn't as “useful” as a Male Zerg.

But judging from Cassian and Ulysses's intentions now, were they planning to introduce this device throughout the entire Federation?

Had his arrival caused some sort of butterfly effect?

An Ruo curiously read the document. When he saw the line stating that it “can perform Psychic Soothing on female Zergs with psychic evaluation scores of 65 or above,” his eyes immediately widened in surprise.

That was much more impressive than what had been described in the original novel.

You really couldn't underestimate the Zergs' initiative!

Cassian noticed the military female peeking at the document and felt conflicted.

You couldn't even call this peeking.

He was practically reading it openly.

Wasn't this far too audacious?

And the Marshal didn't say anything. Instead, he deliberately angled the document slightly toward the other Zerg so that he could see more clearly.

Cassian: “???”

His gaze moved between the two Zergs, utterly bewildered by their relationship.

“What do you think?” Ulysses asked.

An honorific?

Cassian immediately looked up and discovered that the Marshal was asking the military female beside him.

Thank goodness he wasn't asking me.

Cassian breathed a sigh of relief, only to become even more confused immediately afterward.

Who exactly was this military female?

Aside from the rule requiring female Zergs to use honorifics toward Male Zergs, what sort of Zerg could possibly make the Marshal address him respectfully?

An Ruo noticed that the Psychic Soothing device was scheduled to launch at the beginning of next month and wondered why they'd chosen that particular time.

Hearing the Marshal's question, he looked up blankly and met Ulysses's eyes, trying to communicate through his clear eyes brimming with “wisdom”:

I'm just a personal guard!

Did personal guards need to discuss things like this and offer their opinions too?

But Ulysses genuinely was asking for his opinion.

An Ruo could only look at Ulysses, then at Cassian, before saying, “I think Council Speaker Cassian's proposal is very good.”

Whatever.

A plan devised by an important supporting character and intellectual powerhouse from the book couldn't possibly be wrong, right?

He trusted Cassian.

“Heh.” Ulysses gave an ambiguous low laugh, tossed the document onto the desk, returning it to Cassian, and looked directly at him. “In that case, we'll do as you suggested.”

Cassian inexplicably felt pressured.

Everything in the document had been Ulysses's plan.

Cassian had merely been responsible for refining the details.

The Marshal was overwhelmingly powerful and could see straight through a Zerg's thoughts, so he had always made others feel pressured. But this time, the pressure seemed to come from nowhere, leaving Cassian completely baffled.

His instincts were sounding an alarm.

This was not a place to linger.

He picked up the document from the desk, took his leave, and departed.

As he stepped out of the office and turned around to close the door, Cassian gave the Marshal's side one final glance.

The military female was standing even closer to the Marshal now. He leaned forward slightly, seemingly about to say something to him, and his body was already pressed against the Marshal's arm.

Female Zergs rarely had physical contact outside of combat, yet the Marshal showed no aversion whatsoever.

Instead, he indulged him, even tilting his head slightly to listen.

Could the Marshal be into female Zergs?

The instant the office door closed, this thought abruptly surfaced in Cassian's mind.

His entire body immediately stiffened.

His facial expression froze along with it.

Cassian didn't care whether the Marshal was into female Zergs or not, but his Male Lord was a fanatical An-shen fan.

If his Male Lord found out about this...

Cassian didn't even dare imagine the consequences.

His Male Lord was in poor health. He couldn't withstand this sort of shock.

For one moment, Cassian almost wanted to push open the door and go back inside to admonish him.

But he was also afraid he might walk in on an even more impossible-to-explain scene.

That silver-haired military female wasn't merely beautiful. There was also some peculiar attraction about him, a unique charm that made it difficult to look away and made others want to approach him.

Even Cassian himself couldn't help looking at him several extra times.

From that alone, it was obvious that even female Zergs could easily be attracted to him.

Even female Zergs couldn't resist him.

He was the kind of Zerg who could make even female Zergs want to court him.

At this thought, Cassian's expression became strange.

He wasn't sure whether there was something wrong with this particular military female, or whether accompanying his Male Lord while reading female-female romance had damaged his brain so badly that he was now coming up with all these bizarre descriptions.

Whatever the reason, the Marshal absolutely could not fall for a female Zerg, no matter how irresistible that female Zerg might be.

Cassian decided that he would go back and write a report admonishing him.

Until the Marshal gave up, Cassian would write one report every single day.

As for his Male Lord...

Cassian rubbed his forehead, developing a headache.

There was no way he could tell his Male Lord about something like this.

He could only hope the Marshal... corrected his ways as quickly as possible.

€€

Inside the office.

An Ruo listened as Ulysses explained the Psychic Soothing device to him.

“It can't completely replace Psychic Soothing from a Male Zerg. Neither its effectiveness nor comfort can compare to a Male Zerg's soothing, but it can serve as a minimum safeguard.”

For Zergs who could receive Psychic Soothing from a Male Zerg, naturally the Male Zerg's results would be better.

These devices were intended for Zergs who couldn't receive soothing from a Male Zerg.

The original safety threshold had been 80.

Now it had fallen to 65, giving female Zergs a much greater margin for error.

An Ruo thought this was a remarkable invention.

For both female Zergs and Male Zergs.

He frequently saw Male Zergs complaining online that Psychic Soothing was exhausting and troublesome. Although he couldn't quite understand that himself, if this device existed, wouldn't it also make life easier for more Male Zergs and free them from some of the burden of providing Psychic Soothing within their households?

Ulysses also told him, “Some Male Zergs will resist it.”

Plenty of Male Zergs complained that they didn't want to perform Psychic Soothing, but if something truly appeared that could substitute for its function, they might not necessarily be happy about it.

The existing soothing device couldn't completely replace Psychic Soothing from Male Zergs, but nobody knew how strongly the Male Zergs would react.

Cassian had prepared numerous contingency plans for precisely this reason.

“Everything has Zergs who oppose it,” An Ruo said. “But that doesn't change the fact that, in the long run, this is the right decision.”

In fact, there was no need to wait for the long run.

It could save many Zergs right now.

Ulysses understood what he meant and was also delighted that An Ruo supported his decision.

There were many considerations behind his choice to release news about the Psychic Soothing device at this particular time.

First, the addition of the Male Zerg Eugene, together with the knowledge gained through Psychic Soothing cooperation and exchanges with the Tianjia, had greatly advanced their research. The technology was now ready to withstand the test of the market.

More importantly, Ulysses needed an explosive piece of news to capture the attention of every sector of society, leaving the news media temporarily too occupied to concern themselves with anything else.

He needed them to stop watching the prison.

Before any Zerg realized what was happening, he intended to fish a certain Zerg out of prison.

Ulysses checked the time and asked An Ruo whether he wanted to eat. He could have food delivered, or they could go out for a walk.

An Ruo wasn't hungry after eating so many snacks, so he agreed to Ulysses's suggestion that they go for a walk.

But he didn't want to encounter too many Zergs, so he spent the entire way dragging Ulysses around while avoiding everyone.

Sneaking around like thieves.

Doing something like this inside Military Headquarters looked extremely suspicious.

But An Ruo's Psychic Power, combined with Ulysses's presence, somehow blurred away that suspiciousness.

Whenever An Ruo saw a Zerg approaching, he pulled Ulysses behind a wall or a pillar.

Inevitably, their bodies ended up pressed tightly together.

Ulysses lowered his eyes and looked at the “military female” pressed against him, his expression tense.

In certain respects, Ulysses was a traditional female Zerg.

He believed female Zergs ought to be with Male Zergs, both for reproduction and for Psychic Soothing.

Even though he disliked Male Zergs—all Male Zergs—he still believed that female Zergs being together with Male Zergs was what made sense.

In short, he wasn't into female Zergs.

But at this moment, the god, completely dressed as a female Zerg, was standing extraordinarily close to him.

Ulysses heard the beating of his own heart beneath his chest.

For one moment, he thought that whether the god was a Male Zerg or a female Zerg, male or female, none of it was really that important.

Regardless of species or sex, as long as it was him.

Behind the massive pillar concealing them from view, Ulysses lowered his head and captured the lips of the person before him.

An Ruo's eyes widened in astonishment.

He stared blankly at Ulysses, shocked stiff as a statue, before immediately turning so red he practically boiled.

Why—why was Ulysses kissing him...

Here, of all times...

In the end, An Ruo still remembered that he was currently dressed as a “female Zerg.”

They absolutely couldn't let any Zerg see them like this.

Otherwise, there would be no explaining away the Marshal kissing a “female Zerg” at Military Headquarters.

Even as Ulysses kissed him until his head grew dizzy, An Ruo still struggled to spread his Psychic Power outward, making every female Zerg instinctively ignore whatever was happening over here.