Chapter 323: Male Zerg Celebrity × Arms Dealer (10): Zerg Eggs Are Pointy, Eugene & Ares, Tea-Scented Ravens

Outside the novel, the readers stared at the story, and when they saw Ravens appear, they were just as shocked and shaken as the comments inside the novel.

At that moment, they seemed no different from the audience in the novel. An invisible thread connected them together, filling them with a profound sense of resonance.

Especially after readers who had been camping in Shamir’s livestream returned to report that Shamir had already entered the game and started streaming, testing the new version of <Virtual Zerg Romance> live.

It was as though fiction and reality had intersected at that very moment, with the events from the novel genuinely unfolding before their eyes.

Even though no one was certain yet whether everything would match perfectly, the astonishing degree of similarity filled every Zerg with curiosity and the urge to investigate.

More and more Zergs opened Shamir’s livestream on one screen while reading the novel on another. Some even deliberately slowed down their reading, holding their breaths as though they were witnessing history in the making.

But ultimately, they were readers, unlike the pure Shamir fans in the livestream.

Readers naturally wanted the story they were following to have a happy ending. They could complain, curse, nitpick, and criticize all they wanted, but in the end, they still wanted Shamir and Ravens to end up together and find happiness.

Among all the readers, only the Tianjia had a completely different style.

Upon discovering that they had once again been insulted in the novel—and by a beautiful Male Zerg, no less—the Tianjia became so furious that they were briefly extremely furious.

Then they rapidly compiled every Tianjia insult they could think of and furiously typed them out.

Things like:

“You’re just like a Zerg Female Zerg.”

“Get trampled under a Male Zerg’s feet.”

“Zerg €€.”

“The eggs you lay are pointy.”

...

Unfortunately, the cultural gap between the two species was simply too large, and passing Female Zergs were not insulted in the slightest.

They were Female Zergs to begin with. If a Male Zerg stepped on them, they would probably seize the opportunity to lick his feet a couple of times.

As for organs related to Male Zergs, those would only make them feel reassured by the suggestive content and blush furiously from embarrassment.

At most, someone would warn them not to openly discuss a Male Zerg’s xx in public or the post would be deleted and their account suspended.

Even “the eggs you lay are pointy” left them completely baffled.

Wasn’t the tiny pointed end of an egg adorable?

The Tianjia used that phrase as an insult because Tianjia eggs were smaller and rounder. Saying someone laid a pointy egg was essentially accusing them of laying a Zerg egg, and by extension, insulting either the Tianjia female who laid it or his Male Lord by implying one of them was a Zerg.

Among the Tianjia, it was considered an extremely damaging insult.

But Zerg eggs were naturally pointed at one end and rounded at the other.

Using Zerg eggs to insult Zergs had absolutely no destructive power whatsoever.

Some Female Zergs even happily accepted it as a blessing and carried it away with them, nearly making the Tianjia cough blood from rage.

Before long, all sorts of Tianjia insults began spreading across Zerg StarNet, and everyone found them extremely entertaining.

Even in Shamir’s livestream, Zergs had started saying things like, “Ravens’s eggs are pointy,” and “Those dragon eggs are pointy.”

[The Marshal’s eggs will be pointy too.]

[General Cyril’s eggs are pointy too.]

[€€? The egg General Enzo posted actually isn’t pointy.]

Some Zergs dug up an old “Zerg egg photo” General Enzo had once posted and unexpectedly discovered that the egg was small and round, looking incredibly cute with a bow tied around it.

There were exceptions to everything, not to mention that this had been a premature egg, so most of them didn’t think much of it.

Only a few sharper Zergs connected the egg with where it had come from and developed a few suspicions.

But whatever the truth was, it wouldn’t make much difference.

That egg had been incubated by General Enzo and raised by General Enzo. Long ago, it had already become a Zerg egg and a Zerg.

Even if one day the truth that Axel was actually a Tianjia male came out, it would merely turn into a custody battle between the Zergs and the Tianjia.

Meanwhile, in the Tianjia Imperial Palace.

Eugene, who was accompanying the postpartum Ares while incubating their twin eggs, saw the discussions on StarNet and quietly lifted the little blanket covering the eggs.

He picked up his twin eggs and carefully examined them, trying to determine whether they were pointed or round.

Because they were twins, they were relatively small, so their overall size and shape looked completely like Tianjia eggs.

But when placed side by side, one could still tell that one end was slightly narrower.

It wasn’t nearly as obvious as with Zerg eggs, but there was still a faint trace of the characteristic.

Eugene silently did the calculations in his head.

His Female Father’s Tianjia bloodline, his own, plus Ares’s...

Their hatchlings should be roughly seventy-five percent Tianjia.

With such a high proportion of Tianjia blood, the fact that they still retained even this tiny feature of a Zerg egg was already quite impressive.

Eugene was very satisfied with the current situation.

Having grown up immersed in Zerg education and culture, he thought pointy Zerg eggs were adorable.

But truthfully, even if these two eggs had been completely round, so round they looked like two balls, he would still have loved them just as much.

Ares walked in from outside and casually unfastened the buttons of his military uniform.

He had only given birth not long ago, but his Imperial Brother had gone to the Zerg Federation for his sake, leaving all government affairs on Ares’s shoulders.

Even after laying the eggs, he couldn’t rest for long and still had official business to handle.

In fact, there was even more work than before he had laid the eggs. At least back then, his Imperial Brother had been able to share the burden with him.

Now there was no one.

Eugene was worried seeing him work so hard immediately after giving birth, so he had learned to help shoulder some of the burden.

Most of what he handled consisted of minor palace affairs, social interactions among the nobility, and tedious work sorting documents into more detailed categories.

Somehow, he had ended up doing the work of an Empress and half a secretary.

But the truly important military and political matters, as well as anything requiring a public appearance, still had to be handled personally by Ares.

Ares had just finished a cabinet meeting.

When he returned and saw Eugene holding the eggs and staring at them, he looked mildly puzzled.

He casually took the egg from the Male Zerg’s hands and said,

“You’re tired, aren’t you? Give them to me. I’ll watch them.”

Although Tianjia eggs were incubated by males, there was no reason to make a male spend the entire day holding an egg.

Generally speaking, it was more than enough for a male to hold and play with the eggs for one or two star-hours each day.

The main purpose was to let the eggs become familiar with their Male Father.

The Psychic Force and pheromones naturally emitted from a male’s body were also beneficial to the eggs, and at the same time, it helped cultivate the male’s sense of responsibility toward the hatchlings.

Besides, a male holding an egg was adorable enough to create a warm, domestic atmosphere, more than enough to soothe a female returning home after a busy day.

Anything beyond that was unnecessary.

Among the Tianjia, relying on males was considered a sign of weakness.

Even hatchlings, once they reached a certain age, were expected to separate from their Male Father and would no longer maintain much further contact with him.

Another reason came from the females’ own possessiveness toward males.

They were unlike the Zergs, who had no choice but to share their Male Zergs with other Female Zergs, where even jealousy was treated as sinful and something a proper Female Zerg should not possess.

Tianjia females could freely express their possessiveness toward their males.

Even inviting other females into the family was the female’s own choice.

In short, Tianjia females liked seeing males incubate eggs, but they also disliked seeing males pay too much attention to the eggs.

Ares sat back against the headboard with the egg in his arms.

The buttons of his military uniform had already been undone, and his chest, fuller and more magnificent after giving birth, was clearly outlined beneath his shirt, making the thin fabric look almost incapable of containing it.

Ares pulled Eugene closer, wanting him to help.

Eugene stared in stunned disbelief.

He swallowed, his gaze drifting around as he tentatively reached out his hand and asked hoarsely,

“The eggs haven’t even hatched yet. How can it already be... this, this...”

Ares replied confidently,

“Because I’m in excellent health.”

Tianjia females were all this confident.

They never believed anything could possibly be wrong with themselves.

As the Tianjia Emperor, Ares was even more so.

Eugene raised his eyes and looked at him, silently grumbling a few things in his head, but he didn’t argue.

Of course he knew exactly how healthy Ares was.

As long as Ares was healthy and normal, then this little situation wasn’t a problem.

Eugene lowered his head.

Soon, even the tip of his nose disappeared as he sank in.

The arm Ares had wrapped around Eugene’s waist tightened slightly.

His breathing grew heavier, his chest rising and falling.

Even someone as self-assured as him couldn’t remain completely composed under circumstances like these.

His gaze wandered.

It lingered on the Male Zerg’s face for a moment, then touched upon the place where Eugene’s skin met his own before quickly moving away again.

Then he noticed the light screen Eugene had left open beside them.

A novel page was displayed on it.

He knew that “Carl” had been following Zerg novels these past few days.

In a moment of overheated inspiration, Ares said in an extremely Tianjia-female fashion,

“I’ll read the novel to you!”

Ares’s Zerg language was only mediocre.

Naturally, he couldn’t compare with Carl, who had been born and raised among the Zergs.

His reading voice was also cold and mechanical.

And yet, there really were Zergs who liked exactly that sort of voice.

Eugene hadn’t originally liked cold, mechanical voices either.

But after getting used to it, he had unexpectedly started finding this kind of voice easier to listen to.

Voices that were too emotional actually made him feel tired.

Although he didn’t think Ares would manage to produce much of a reading performance under these circumstances, Eugene still gave a couple of muffled “Mm-hm” sounds in agreement.

He had his own selfish motive.

He wanted to hear Ares make sounds.

Reading a novel counted as making sounds, didn’t it?

At a time like this, Ares’s voice would sound sexier than usual.

And so, under Eugene’s secret anticipation, Ares dragged the light screen over.

With one hand, he pressed down on the head of the Male Zerg in front of him, lifted his chest, took a deep breath, stared at the words on the screen, and slowly began reading aloud.

...

[A Female Zerg who looked like Ravens, sounded like Ravens, and even looked at him the same way Ravens did.

Then he was Ravens.

There was no other possibility.

“Mr. Ravens?!”

Shamir cried out in astonishment, and immediately received a system warning.

The game offered an extremely high degree of freedom, but players still had to follow certain rules.

For example, they could not behave in ways that were too inconsistent with their in-game identity and characterization.

As a Male Zerg in an era seven thousand years ago, when Male Zergs were extraordinarily rare and noble, he should not address an ordinary mercenary Female Zerg with an honorific like “Mr.”

That was behavior inconsistent with his status.

The instant he said “Mr.,” the surrounding Female Zergs had already revealed confused expressions.

Then, one after another, their gazes toward Ravens became indignant.

They were convinced that this mercenary must have used some kind of trick to deceive the Male Zerg.

Shamir, however, had no intention of discussing private matters with Mr. Ravens in front of everyone.

He hurried forward, pulled Ravens aside, and led him farther away.

Only after reaching a relatively secluded corner did he anxiously lower his voice and ask,

“Mr. Raven—cough, you, €€? Why am I getting a warning for this too...”

Shamir had no choice but to reorganize his wording.

“How did you get here?”

Ravens quietly looked at him and said,

“I entered with you...” the game, “and came here.”

Ravens similarly omitted several words that were unsuitable to say directly.

But Shamir understood immediately.

He hurriedly opened his game interface and checked.

Sure enough, they were in the same party.

This had been his mistake.

He hadn’t noticed that the two gaming pods were linked by default.

But that wasn’t the most important issue right now, because Shamir quickly realized that his livestream was still running...

He stiffly looked at the livestream screen, which was completely flooded with comments.

As though realizing something, Ravens said,

“Am I disturbing you... Your Excellency? If I’m interfering, I’ll leave immediately.”

That was what he said.

But Ravens’s feet seemed glued to the ground.

He didn’t move an inch.

He didn’t want to log out just like that.

He had overheard some of Shamir’s conversation with the other Zergs and knew that Shamir had come here looking for Female Slaves.

That was probably part of his game mission.

Ravens couldn’t leave.

Even though he knew perfectly well that this was only a game, he still cared.

At most, he could...

Stay a little farther away.

Remain outside the camera frame.

Avoid interfering with the livestream.

Inside the livestream, the comments had already started imitating Ravens.

[If I’m interfering, I’ll leave immediately~]

[Did any of you see his feet move? Is he glued to the ground with industrial-strength adhesive?]

[The logout button is right there. Why aren’t you pressing it? Is it broken? I’ll tag game support for you @GameCustomerService. No need to thank me!]

[Everyone! I went to check his internal monologue in the novel and came back! He has absolutely no intention of logging out!]

[Fuck! You can do that???]

Shamir hurriedly swept his gaze across the comments.

There were too many, and they were too chaotic, so he didn’t look closely at what everyone was saying.

He quickly blocked the comments first, then muted the livestream audio as well.

After hesitating for a moment, he left the video running.

He merely adjusted the camera’s capture area and moved Ravens outside the frame.

He said to Mr. Ravens,

“No, there’s no need to leave. I’ll make sure not to film you. Since you came here to experience the game, then enjoy yourself. There’s no need to rush off.”

Shamir figured that he was retiring from the entertainment industry anyway.

There were only another half a month left.

Even if some rumors spread, they wouldn’t really affect anything.

Then he remembered something else and asked,

“Do you also have one of those... missions?”

Ravens nodded.

Most Female Zerg missions were long-term campaigns.

Their ultimate goal was to win the heart of a Male Zerg and establish a marriage.

Right now, Ravens only had a beginner mission: go into town, repair his weapon, and find some work.

There was a note attached to the mission saying he might have an opportunity to encounter a Male Zerg.

That itself was considered part of the reward.

Nothing was more attractive to a Female Zerg than that.

Ravens looked at Shamir standing before him.

Clearly, the Male Zerg mentioned in the mission note was this one.

When Shamir asked about his mission, Ravens answered truthfully.

“I need to find some work. Preferably somewhere I can stay as well. Perhaps you could let me work on your farm. I’m a Female Zerg. I’m very good at physical labor.”

Even though Ravens had never actually worked on a farm before, he didn’t think it would be difficult for him.

Rather than letting Shamir acquire Female Slaves inside the game, it would be better to have Ravens do the work himself.

His rank was high.

When it came to physical labor, he could easily do the work of ten Female Zergs by himself.

Shamir thought about it and also felt it was a good idea.

It was only a game anyway.

They probably wouldn’t need to do any real farm work.

He could treat it as helping Mr. Ravens complete his game mission.

If Shamir refused to interfere and simply left him alone, Mr. Ravens would still have to go elsewhere to complete his mission.

Who knew what he might encounter?

And so, the two Zergs settled the matter just like that.

Shamir turned the livestream audio back on and gave the viewers a brief explanation, saying that he had run into a Zerg he knew inside the game.

His boss.

He didn’t dare look at what the comments were saying now that he had increased the filtering level.

He hurriedly brought Ravens back toward the farm.

But just as their aircraft was about to enter the farm, they encountered a problem.

Mr. Ravens couldn’t directly enter Shamir’s farm because he didn’t possess a legally recognized status.

A Female Zerg without an identity certified by a Male Zerg who entered a Male Zerg’s territory would be regarded as having improper intentions toward the Male Zerg.

The guards would arrest and punish him.

And there were only three identities a Male Zerg could grant a Female Zerg:

Female Lord.

Female Attendant.

Female Slave.

Shamir froze in place, completely at a loss.

Ravens quietly lowered his eyes, radiating the unmistakable air of:

Anything is fine with me.

Do whatever you want.

No fighting.

No competing.

Detached from all worldly desires.

Shamir’s hardcore solo fans in the livestream were practically coughing blood from rage.

[Stop selling weapons and go sell flower-and-fruit tea instead!]

In one of Shamir’s dramas, there had once been a sub-female who was exceptionally skilled at brewing tea.

While the other Female Zergs fought, competed, and even came to blows, he quietly captured the Male Zerg’s heart with a single cup of flower-and-fruit tea.

Ever since then, “flower-and-fruit tea” had become slang for an exceptionally high-level, scheming Female Zerg or sub-female.

[You’re all Female Zergs! Why can’t you learn from the Marshal and General Cyril?! They would NEVER use tricks like this!]

...]