Chapter 343: Love Rival and Fellow Fan: If An Ruo Had a Love Rival, Uriel Would Definitely Rank First

An Ruo got the chance to see a Zerg egg up close—or perhaps it should be called a hybrid egg.

He held the egg and took a photo with it.

But when he looked through the photo afterward, it somehow seemed strangely familiar, very similar to a picture he had taken before.

Oh, right. It looked like the photo he had taken with Axel’s egg.

Unlike Female Zerg eggs, which had distinctive insect markings, Male Zerg eggs all looked almost exactly the same. Their shells were uniformly pure white, making it genuinely difficult to tell one from another.

Axel’s egg had at least had the bow An Ruo tied around the towel wrapping it. This Male Zerg egg, however, really didn’t have a single distinguishing feature.

If he absolutely had to find one...

Maybe one end was just a tiny bit pointier than Axel’s egg?

An Ruo couldn’t help thinking that if he and Ulysses ever had a Male Zerg egg in the future, he absolutely had to buy a marker and make some kind of mark on it.

Stickers would work too.

Covering the whole eggshell in colorful stickers would definitely look nice.

Eugene still had to take the egg for registration, so An Ruo didn’t stay long. He left with Xi’an, and Uriel followed them out as well.

Seeing that Uriel had followed, seemingly because he had something to say, An Ruo stopped by the roadside outside the military hospital and turned back to look at him from beneath the shade of a tree.

Xi’an knew that Lieutenant General Uriel had previously served as warden of the First Military Region Prison and had history with An-shen’s other identity. Sensibly, he walked several steps away and stood at a distance with the military Female Zerg guards, watching from afar.

“My Lord, have you... been well? Is the Marshal well?”

In the past, Uriel and this lord had only ever interacted through work. This was the first time they were meeting privately as individuals. Without their familiar roles and rhythm to rely on, Uriel inevitably seemed somewhat restrained.

An Ruo, on the other hand, was perfectly capable of continuing a conversation naturally as long as he wasn’t expected to come up with the topic himself.

“We’re both well. I’m doing very well, and Ulysses is doing very well too.”

Thinking of Ulysses, An Ruo smiled slightly and said, “We received the wedding gift you sent. I really liked it. The sea of stars is beautiful. Thank you.”

Uriel had been transferred to the Ninth Military Region and hadn’t been able to attend their wedding, but he had sent them a gift.

It was a model of a sea of stars, an entire galaxy contained inside a deep, crystalline sphere.

Because Ulysses’ Psychic Domain took the form of a sea of stars, An Ruo had come to love anything related to starfields by association, and he especially liked it.

What was more, many locations within the starfield model Uriel had given them were marked in different colors, identifying every battle Marshal Ulysses had commanded.

A God of War who had fought a hundred battles and won a hundred victories, a military god who led the Zerg race like a battle standard—the sites of those battles were scattered across the Zerg borders, expanding outward inch by inch, claiming one new starfield after another.

It was breathtaking.

It was only after seeing the battles marked on this starfield model that An Ruo gained a deeper understanding of Ulysses’ past.

And he admired him and loved him even more because of it.

It was an extraordinarily thoughtful gift.

Only Uriel would have thought of giving them something like this.

Now, whenever An Ruo saw Uriel, he had the strange feeling of meeting a fellow fan.

€€€€You like Ulysses too? Me too!

If you like Ulysses, then we’re good friends!

But Ulysses is still mine. I can’t give him to you.

An Ruo silently added the last sentence in his heart, then gave Uriel a slightly embarrassed yet very proud smile.

It wasn’t really An Ruo’s fault that he had misclassified Uriel.

In the book, Uriel was utterly devoted to Ulysses. The bond between the two ran extremely deep. They were brothers, confidants, a commander and his follower.

Although it wasn’t romantic attraction between a Female Zerg and a Male Zerg, nor some forbidden romance, the depth of their feelings absolutely wasn’t inferior to something like that.

Most of the book’s plot had long since become hazy in An Ruo’s memory, and his impression of Uriel was little more than a vague silhouette. It could never compare to the Uriel he had personally seen and come to know.

But there were still certain things he remembered.

In the book, Uriel was the protagonist’s superior officer. He was powerful and cold, but fiercely protective of his own.

The protagonist came under his command after having once served as one of the Marshal’s personal guards, and Uriel gave him a great deal of help, support, and guidance.

This seemingly cold Female Zerg had an extremely strong sense of responsibility and protectiveness toward any Zerg who worked under him or fell within his care.

Just as he had done his utmost to care for the Male Zergs back at the Military Region Prison, he also protected the military Female Zergs under his command.

And he paid Helios even more attention and care than he did most others.

But when the two sides eventually came into conflict, and the Female Zerg protagonist moved into opposition against the Marshal, Uriel still chose the Marshal without hesitation.

When facing the Female Zerg protagonist, Uriel might have been devastated. Perhaps he couldn’t bear to strike at him, perhaps he tried to mediate and persuade him.

But in the end, they stood in two opposing camps.

An Ruo no longer remembered Uriel’s ending in the book.

But since Ulysses had died in the original story, Uriel, who had followed him, probably hadn’t met a good end either.

Ulysses had chosen his own path and died as a martyr for his ideals.

Uriel had simply chosen Ulysses.

The depth of feeling between them could hardly be denied.

If An Ruo had a love rival, Uriel would unquestionably rank first.

All those Male Zergs on StarNet who admired Ulysses would have to line up behind him. They weren’t even worth bringing up individually.

With the original novel as precedent, it wasn’t really surprising that An Ruo sometimes misclassified Uriel—simultaneously regarding him as a “fellow fan” while subconsciously placing him in the “love rival” category.

Uriel took in all of the Male Zerg’s fondness and pride.

He also caught the fleeting hint of apology in his expression.

Apology...

He knew he had no chance.

He had never held any hope to begin with.

He simply hadn’t expected the Male Zerg to notice.

He would have to be even more vigilant from now on.

Uriel took half a step back, lowered his head, and took out the item he had prepared.

“My Lord, I also brought a gift for your and the Marshal’s hatchling when I returned this time.”

An Ruo caught sight of a jewel-like gleam, dazzling beneath the sunlight filtering through the gaps between the branches overhead.

A jewel?

Egg-shaped?

A gemstone dragon egg!

Once An Ruo realized what it was, his eyes widened.

Uriel placed the egg into his hands, gazing gently at it as he said, “I heard that the Marshal is carrying an egg. It truly is wonderful news. I returned in such a hurry that I didn’t have time to prepare anything, so I can only offer this trophy I acquired along the way. It can be a companion for the Zerg egg that will soon be born and grow up together with the little hatchling.”

An Ruo also knew how precious a gemstone dragon egg was.

If it had been a gift for him, he definitely wouldn’t have accepted it.

But Uriel had phrased it cleverly, saying it was for the hatchling, which made it difficult for An Ruo to refuse.

Perhaps the hatchling really did need a companion like this.

The Zerg birth rate was low. Most hatchlings grew up alone, spending their childhood without siblings of the same age.

Some hatchlings treated the robotic Zergs that cared for them as playmates.

If there were a pet companion that could grow up alongside the hatchling, it would be beneficial to the hatchling’s physical and psychological health.

This too was an extraordinarily thoughtful gift.

In the end, An Ruo accepted it.

Holding the dazzling gemstone dragon egg, he looked sincerely at Uriel and said,

“Thank you for the gift. I’ll thank you on Uromia’s behalf for now.”

Receiving a gift also meant giving one in return.

This was already the second gift Uriel had given him.

First the wedding gift, and now this precious gemstone dragon egg...

Having received such expensive gifts, An Ruo almost wanted to immediately empty his pockets and find something to give Uriel in return.

But whatever he had on him or inside his spatial button obviously wouldn’t do.

That would be far too perfunctory.

He had to prepare something properly.

An Ruo could only suppress the impulse to start rummaging through his pockets.

He couldn’t produce anything right now anyway. He could slowly think about what to give in return later. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Perhaps he could ask Ulysses for his opinion.

This was also a limitation of An Ruo’s human way of thinking.

Female Zergs giving gifts to Male Zergs was perfectly normal and commonplace.

Male Zergs had no need to return gifts.

There simply wasn’t any such custom as a Male Zerg giving a return gift.

Uriel had never expected anything in return from the Male Zerg.

His attention was entirely focused on the name An Ruo had just said.

“Uromia?”

He repeated the name, savoring it for a moment.

Realizing what it represented, he asked with some surprise, “You’ve already chosen a name?”

“Mm!” An Ruo nodded hard.

They had chosen the name long ago.

And it could only be this name.

Uriel’s gaze grew complicated.

The hatchling had already been given a name before it was even born—and such a special name at that.

Anyone could see just how much love and expectation its Male Father and Female Father held for it.

“Congratulations,” Uriel said once more, a hint of envy and wistfulness in his eyes.

Neither of them was particularly talkative.

An Ruo wasn’t good at chatting, while Uriel was deliberately maintaining some distance.

After exchanging only a few words and giving him the gift, Uriel took his leave, saying that he needed to pay his respects to the Marshal.

An Ruo figured that Uriel and his former commanding officer Ulysses hadn’t seen each other for a long time. They must have plenty to talk about, or perhaps Uriel had military matters to report.

He naturally didn’t want to delay Uriel from seeing Ulysses, so he agreed, and the two parted there.

An Ruo returned to the officers’ villa and found some information about raising gemstone dragons.

He had researched gemstone dragons a little while writing novels before, but actually raising one—and hatching it from an egg at that—was obviously completely different.

He needed to do much more homework.

He also sent Xi’an back to rest.

Xi’an had accompanied him for half the day and must be tired, so it was a perfect chance to give him some time off.

The highly energetic Xi’an walked out the door, looked around blankly, and, finding himself with nothing to do, went to the training grounds to find Claire.

The moment he arrived, he learned that Major General Claire had been summoned by the Marshal.

All the generals were in a meeting.

Xi’an, whose rank wasn’t high enough to attend, had no choice but to entertain himself.

So he doubled his training volume.

...

Ulysses didn’t return until evening.

An Ruo had already placed the dragon egg inside an incubator and was sitting on the sofa scrolling through gemstone dragon videos.

From time to time, he also came across videos of Zerg hatchlings.

They were all little hatchlings at peak cuteness and were incredibly adorable.

When Ulysses walked in, An Ruo was typing a reply on the light screen.

Ulysses happened to see it.

The Male Zerg had written:

“So cute. Your little one could be a child model.”

“...”

Ulysses glanced at the hatchling in the video and immediately reached a conclusion.

Not as cute as his Uromia.

Seeing that he had returned, An Ruo closed the video first, pulled Ulysses down to sit on the sofa, pressed close against him, and began telling him about everything that had happened today.

“I saw Uriel!”

“Mm.”

“He even gave Uromia a gemstone dragon egg!”

“Mm.”

Ulysses answered, already having noticed the gemstone dragon egg in the incubator beside them, glowing with rainbow-colored brilliance beneath the incubator light.

His gaze softened slightly.

“He put thought into it.”

“Then what should we give him in return?” An Ruo asked, lying across Ulysses’ knees with his head tilted.

In the past, An Ruo had cared a great deal about his image in front of Ulysses.

He had always sat perfectly straight and stood perfectly upright.

But once they became familiar with one another, the laziness buried in his bones began leaking out. Whenever they were together in private, he couldn’t help leaning against Ulysses.

Ulysses indulged him.

He liked it when An Ruo leaned against him.

He liked the Male Zerg’s closeness and dependence on him.

Some of it had even been deliberately encouraged by Ulysses himself.

Ulysses stroked the Male Zerg’s hair, his expression gentle as he said softly, “Leave those things to me.”

A Male Zerg didn’t need to concern himself with returning gifts to Female Zergs.

Even if a return gift truly had to be given, that was the Female Lord’s responsibility.

An Ruo trusted Ulysses completely.

After thinking about it for only a moment, he happily threw the entire matter aside and handed it over to him.

Relaxing comfortably across Ulysses’ lap, he even happily rolled over, resting the back of his neck against Ulysses’ thigh.

Ulysses liked seeing him so comfortable and intimate with him.

It had to be said that Uriel’s appearance had given him a slight sense of crisis.

That sense of crisis wasn’t directed at Uriel.

Rather, it reminded him that he needed to act with greater urgency—to hold on to his Male Zerg even more firmly and occupy every part of him.

Ulysses’ gaze traced the Male Zerg’s breathtakingly beautiful features.

Time was limited.

In truth, he hadn’t yet thought of any specific method.

He was much better at taking hold of things physically.

When his hand began to move, An Ruo was still happily sharing things with him.

“I also saw Eugene. You know Eugene, right? He’s the Male Zerg ‘Carl’ from the book. He brought back an egg. His egg with the Tianjia Emperor...”

Halfway through the sentence, An Ruo abruptly stopped.

He stiffly looked downward, then stared blankly up at Ulysses and asked,

“Are you listening?”

Ulysses answered gently, “I am. Please continue.”

An Ruo: “...”

An Ruo held it in for a long time, his face turning red, but in the end he still couldn’t stop himself from reminding him,

“The Tianjia Emperor’s egg€€! Don’t you care?”

“Mm.”

Ulysses’ thoughts were on his Male Zerg’s egg, his fingertips rubbing slowly.

Seeing that the Male Zerg was genuinely concerned about it, he finally decided to answer the question and satisfy his curiosity.

“One of those two eggs was supposed to belong to the Zerg race in the first place. If Eugene had come back with nothing at all, then I would have been the one who needed to have a proper discussion with the Tianjia Emperor.”

An Ruo could guarantee that the word “discussion” coming from Ulysses absolutely did not mean anything friendly.

“So you already agreed on this beforehand?” An Ruo asked belatedly.

“We never formally discussed it. If I had to describe it...” Ulysses said, “I suppose it was a tacit understanding.”

If the Tianjia Emperor contributed nothing, there was no possibility that the Zerg Federation would continue making special exceptions for him.

For example, while the Tianjia Prince remained among the Zergs, Male Zergs were still permitted to travel to Tianjia.

And the Zerg Federation had repeatedly allowed the Tianjia Emperor to come and meet a Zerg Male Zerg for dates...

All of that had only been possible because the Zerg authorities deliberately turned a blind eye.

Otherwise, if Ulysses had actually wanted to interfere, the Tianjia Emperor would never have been able to come and go so freely, much less meet the Male Zerg again and again.

Since the Tianjia wanted to establish diplomatic relations, they also had to show some sincerity.

Having an imperial prince serve as an envoy of peace was an extremely suitable method.

It would promote friendly exchanges between the two races much more effectively.

That said, Ulysses had no intention of stubbornly holding on to a hybrid Tianjia egg forever.

If the Male Zerg hatchling wanted to return to Tianjia after breaking out of his shell, he could go back whenever he wished.

Tianjia would also grant him the status of an imperial prince.

An Ruo listened to Ulysses’ explanation and nodded, half understanding and half not.

But very soon, he had no time to think about it any further.

Ulysses still hadn’t taken his hand away.

An Ruo’s thoughts became a pot of wontons stirred into complete chaos, then boiled down into porridge, grains and minced meat all stewed together until he could no longer make sense of anything.

An Ruo let out a low sound€€ and wrapped his arms around Ulysses’ neck, seeking out his lips.

Ulysses seemed a little strange today.

An Ruo could smell a faint, hidden sourness from him, like apple cider vinegar, making his mouth water.

He wanted to eat him up.

And he also wanted to coax him.

To Ulysses, those two things were no different.

Eating him was the best kind of comfort.

But to An Ruo, there was still a difference.

He cared more about Ulysses’ thoughts and feelings—and about the communication between their hearts.