Chapter 325: Male Zerg Celebrity × Arms Dealer (12): He Waited for Ravens to Come Steal Him Away—Steal Him Away to Get Married

In Shamir’s livestream.

In the game, Ravens was expressionlessly and earnestly milking a milk-can beast while Shamir watched curiously from the side.

The scenery was beautiful and the atmosphere harmonious, filled with the natural charm of pastoral life. There were little mundane details of everyday living mixed into it, yet that only made Zergs yearn for it even more.

The barrage comments, however, painted a completely different picture.

[Just got back from the novel. What Ravens is thinking right now is about being used however his Male Lord wants while he’s working, getting pushed up against the fence by Shamir!]

[Well, well, Ravens! Looking all proper and serious on the outside while your head is full of fantasies about being possessed by Shamir! Female Slave this, no other choice that, “I can only let my Male Lord use me however he wants”—you came up with a whole pile of excuses. Looks to me like you’re actually looking forward to it! Forget being Female Lord. Go be his Female Slave!]

[Condemning Ravens. Fantasizing about being a Female Slave and still expecting to be treated this well? Dream on!]

[You can’t exactly say that. A novel is still a novel, and it was published before the livestream. You can’t treat everything in it as fact.]

[Right. When An-shen posted the new chapter, Shamir had only just started streaming. He hadn’t even gone into town and met Ravens yet, much less known what would happen afterward. So how could everything develop almost exactly the same way? Is An-shen a prophet?]

[It’s a script! A script! An-shen used the power of a script!]

[So that’s it! I knew Shamir was acting!]

[This time An-shen actually wrote the script personally. This is Shair’s second collaboration with An-shen too, so it’s closer to what happened when <School Heartthrob> was adapted from the novel. An-shen must’ve been really satisfied with our Shair playing “Hill,” so he personally wrote a script and had Shair perform it through the livestream.]

[He even got arms-industry giant Ravens to cooperate with the performance. <Virtual Zerg Romance> sure has some serious clout!]

[Of course it does. Everyone knows An-shen is the original creator of the game, and there’s official backing too. The Marshal and Federation government departments are supporting it. Who couldn’t they invite?]

[Exactly! Back then, General Cyril and Lord Philor even livestreamed together. Even Military Region generals are willing to promote this game. That’s some serious influence!]

[At this point, even if the Marshal appeared on camera with An-shen one day, I wouldn’t be surprised.]

[Already happened, bro. Already happened. In doll form. (Attached image: Marshal doll reaction meme.)]

The topic drifted off course for a while. Only Shamir’s diehard fans and fans of his acting still felt that something was off.

[Don’t you think Shamir’s acting is a little better than before? It’s not that his acting used to be bad. It’s just more natural now, completely seamless. You don’t even feel like he’s acting.]

[Yes. Before, Shamir’s acting was so good it almost felt like he was showing off his technique. One look, one movement, and he could drag you into his emotions and pull you into the story. But now... I can’t really explain it. It feels like he simply is himself, and everything is naturally flowing out of his true nature. Returning to simplicity after reaching perfection—Shamir’s acting has actually gotten this powerful!]

[Do you think there’s any chance... Shamir isn’t acting?]

[Impossible! Absolutely impossible!]

The solo stans absolutely refused to believe that Shamir had genuinely fallen for a Female Zerg.

The novel readers, on the other hand, were delighted by the possibility. Even if the scene Ravens had imagined really happened, they would only save it and replay it over and over.

There was even a livestream right now. How thrilling.

Of course, anyone could guess that Shamir and Ravens wouldn’t actually go at it in front of the camera.

But that was fine. They could fuck after the livestream ended. They’d get to see it in the novel anyway. They would preserve and treasure the written version too, rereading it carefully again and again.

...

[A healthy milk-can beast could produce fifty kilograms of milk a day.

Relieved of its burden, the milk-can beast happily grazed on the grass, occasionally swishing its tail.

Ravens stared at the several buckets of milk he had brought over, looking awkward because he had no idea what to do with them.

As the farm-owning Zerg, Shamir could sell them to the system with one click, or he could sell them to Zergs inside the game. The latter would let him set the price freely, but it was more troublesome to operate.

Shamir wasn’t in any hurry to make money in the game, so he decided to sell the full buckets directly to the system and keep the remaining half-bucket for themselves.

He wanted to try the food in the game too, especially milk that Mr. Ravens had personally squeezed.

Shamir explained what he wanted, and naturally Ravens had no objections.

Once the buckets for the system were sold, Ravens carried the remaining half-bucket and led Shamir back.

Ravens himself was a Female Zerg, so it didn’t matter what he ate or drank. Female Zerg constitutions were powerful enough to ignore every pathogenic bacterium and toxin.

But Shamir was a Male Zerg. Everything he ate and drank had to be carefully processed. Even inside a game, Ravens wouldn’t be careless about that.

Ravens took the beast milk back and heated it for sterilization. Only then did he pour some into a small bowl and bring it to Shamir. Watching Shamir drink until a ring of white milk stained the corners of his mouth, Ravens found him adorable too.

“It’s really good.” Shamir set down the bowl and instinctively licked the corner of his mouth. Then he remembered he was livestreaming, and that Mr. Ravens was right in front of him. It didn’t look very refined, so he quickly switched to wiping his mouth with a handkerchief instead.

Fortunately, Mr. Ravens didn’t care about his lack of manners, and the barrage was only praising him for being cute, saying his tongue was cute and so on...

Shamir’s face turned faintly red. He hurriedly looked away and changed the subject by asking Mr. Ravens, “Aren’t you drinking any?”

Ravens had only poured a bowl for him. He had no intention of drinking any himself.

“I don’t need any,” Ravens answered flatly.

It wasn’t that he disliked dairy products. He simply had no interest in milk he had squeezed himself.

The barrage was frustrated with him.

[Shair likes drinking milk. What’s wrong with giving him a little more? Such a tiny bowl—who are you trying to dismiss with that?]

[Beast milk is ordinary. Zerg milk is where it’s at.]

[Exactly. Zerg milk is much better suited to a Zerg baby’s constitution.]

[My Male Lord said he wanted some, so I gave birth. (shy)]

[???]

The Male Zergs were more curious about the milk-can beast.

[Fifty kilograms a day? Seriously? That much?]

[It’s huge, after all.]

There were also Female Zergs saying they could produce milk too.

A married Male Zerg with hatchlings said it wasn’t anywhere near that much.

[I measured it before. Only around 1,000 milliliters a day, just enough to fill two bottles. Sometimes it’s a little more, but that’s roughly the amount.]

[Wait, why would you measure that?]

[It just occurred to me, okay? Aren’t you curious?

But I don’t recommend trying it casually. After I filled two bottles, my Female Lord thought I wanted to drink it and started sending two bottles to my workplace every day. Later, when the other Female Zergs in the family had hatchlings, they all copied him.

Now I always have to pick up packages under my coworkers’ strange looks, then sit there every day drinking warmed Zerg milk until I smell like milk all over. Female Zergs my age see me and think I’m an underage Male Zerg hatchling, so they stuff milk fruit into my hands. Me: ???]

[That’s miserable. Drinking so much Zerg milk you get sick of it, then getting mistaken for a hatchling. No Female Zerg will chase you anymore. Adult Male Zergs usually get flowers and gems. Who gets sent milk fruit?]

[What’s miserable about that? The Female Zergs in his family all have hatchlings, and often enough that he constantly has to pick up Zerg milk deliveries. Isn’t this just him showing off?!]

Shamir secretly enjoyed the gossip in the barrage. It was hard to imagine a life where Zerg milk got delivered to your workplace every single day.

Mr. Ravens did occasionally send food to him, but it was always in the company’s name, and the entire production crew received it. If Shamir hadn’t recognized the taste of the food from Mr. Ravens’s home, he never would have discovered it.

Shamir secretly glanced at Ravens.

He really was so good. He cared about all his employees.

Sometimes Shamir even had the illusion that he himself was being cared about, being loved.

“Mr. Ravens, let’s go register!” Shamir suddenly said.

Ravens, who had been about to take Shamir’s bowl to the kitchen and wash it, looked at him in shock.

“In this game, a Female Lord has to go to a designated place for official registration. If we keep going without registering, the farm will eventually reject you too.”

As Shamir explained, he took the bowl from Ravens’s hands, rinsed it simply with water, set it aside, and then pulled Ravens out the door.

Neither the countryside nor the town had an official marriage-registration office. They had to go to the city.

If Shamir took an ordinary mercenary and registered him as his Female Lord, it would definitely cause a huge stir.

A lot of Female Zergs would challenge Ravens, and Shamir’s reputation would also fall for taking an ordinary mercenary as his Female Lord.

Ravens wasn’t afraid of being challenged, but he didn’t want Shamir’s reputation to suffer.

The moment Ravens boarded the aircraft, he had already thought everything through.

He told Shamir to go watch a play at the city theater and have some snacks while he went to take care of something first.

Although Shamir didn’t understand why, he still did as he was told out of trust in Ravens.

Besides, the plays inside the game were pretty interesting too.

Onstage, they were performing a love story between an outsider Female Zerg and a local Male Zerg.

Meanwhile, Ravens had already left the theater. He briefly scanned his surroundings, then headed straight toward the eastern district, where public security was weakest.

He had already memorized the city’s routes and circumstances while they were on the aircraft. He knew exactly where to find what he was looking for.

Building up influence step by step was too slow.

If Ravens had started as a Female Slave and gradually risen through Female Attendant to Female Lord, he would have had enough time and patience to establish himself steadily, step by step.

But Shamir had directly promoted him to Female Lord.

He wanted to take him as his Female Lord.

Then Ravens needed to produce results as quickly as possible.

If he wanted to rise rapidly, the fastest route was naturally through the illicit forces and industries beyond the reach of official control.

Ravens set his sights on the local gangs.

In reality, he had long since gone legitimate and now conducted only legal business, but that didn’t mean an arms tycoon like him knew nothing about gangs operating in black and gray areas.

On the contrary, he understood them all too well.

With his overwhelming personal strength, his understanding of the internal workings of criminal organizations, and weapons technology and concepts thousands of years ahead of this era...

Ravens needed less than half a day to completely reshuffle all the local gang forces.

The gang boss had changed.

Shamir was absorbed in the play, occasionally using Psychic Power to chat with the livestream viewers.

Now and then, a Female Zerg would try to strike up a conversation with him, and he would respond politely with a smile.

The fans had already gotten very used to a livestream containing only Shamir. They felt much more relaxed this way. The only thing bothering them was that Female Zergs inside the game kept eyeing Shamir from nearby.

While nitpicking every Female Zerg around Shamir, they also took the opportunity to throw subtle jabs at Ravens, saying things like, “Ravens ran away from the wedding,” “Ravens is unreliable,” and “Marry another Zerg instead, though this one beside you won’t do either.”

Would Ravens really “run away from the wedding”?

Shamir didn’t know.

This couldn’t really be considered a marriage anyway. It was only a game, mixed together with his own selfish desire.

This might be the only chance they would ever have to establish a marital relationship, even if it was only a false marriage.

So he waited inside the theater.

Waited for Ravens to come steal him away.

Just like Ravens had once barged into his world and formed a contractual relationship with him, now Shamir was waiting for Ravens to come steal him away and marry him.

What if Mr. Ravens had something come up and temporarily logged out of the game and didn’t return?

Shamir looked ahead.

The play [N O V E L I G H T] onstage had already reached its final scene. The local Male Zerg followed the outsider Female Zerg away, staging a grand elopement and casting his freedom into it.

Shamir thought that his own freedom would probably mean retiring from the entertainment industry and returning to his hometown, back to the farm where he had grown up.

But for one moment, he hoped Ravens would be in his future too.

Mr. Ravens appearing in his future had originally been something very difficult to imagine.

But today, Mr. Ravens had stood in front of him wearing farm work clothes, as though in some way he had filled in a missing piece of Shamir’s imagination.

The illusion of the game and the reality of the real world intertwined.

He could obviously distinguish between them with ease, yet he didn’t want to.

He waited for Ravens to come back and pick him up.

Waited for a dream.

...]