Chapter 36: Male School Heartthrob x Military Academy Student (1): 【After Class, I Returned to My Dormitory and Found a Child There, Hugging My Leg

[Author An, please look at your starving readers! (crying loudly)]

[It's been half a month already! Aren't you starting a new book? Even factory machines don't take breaks this long!]

[A lot of big names wanted to commission Author An, but nobody can find him. He disappears the moment he finishes a book. Too mysterious.]

[His IP address is always in the First Military Region. He's probably a military female. He can't speak freely. Maybe he's gone on a mission.]

An's gender and identity had always been a mystery.

Although male Zergs all believed An was male, most readers thought An was female.

A military female, or perhaps a sub-female military doctor.

His permanent First Military Region IP address explained everything.

[Anything's fine. Missions are fine. As long as he didn't lose his mind and get married (praying).]

[Agreed. It's happened before. Talented authors completely changed after marriage. Life wore away all their edges.]

[Author An lives off talent and inspiration. Please don't lose your mind and get married. And don't worry about mental issues, we'll crowdfund psychic soothing for you.]

[No need for crowdfunding. Author An has the highest proportion of male Zerg fans among all authors.]

[Exactly. Just hold a fan meeting. The active psychic power of all the male Zerg fans present would cure every mental problem.]

While one side was guessing where An had gone and praying he hadn't done something stupid like get married...

Others had already begun searching for him.

The military region address blocked too many curious eyes.

But there were plenty of ways around that.

In the interstellar era, it was impossible for a Zerg to live, shop, or entertain himself without leaving traces on StarNet.

It was troublesome.

But with enough Zergs working together, finding him wasn't impossible.

[Report! A few days ago I ran into an account with Author An's default ID in a game. Don't know if it was him, but I immediately called my friends and surrounded him until we killed him offline!]

[Wow, that's evil.]

[How is that evil? It's helping Author An quit his gaming addiction and focus on writing. (cool sunglasses pose)]

[That's right! Helping Author An quit gaming is every Zerg's responsibility! Count me in!]

[Okay. Zone A of Star Wars. Between 1000 and 1500 points. Usually online from noon until evening, not mornings. His account with the default ID is mediocre, but the player teaming up with him is a god. At least A-rank level. Top reaction speed and controls. Watch out for that.]

[Author An is really that bad? So he's probably a military doctor, not a military female?]

[Who knows? Our only responsibility is helping all suspicious Author An accounts quit gaming.]

While those military females took turns camping and waiting for that default account to come online—

News arrived from the front.

Author An had started a new book.

...

【After class, I returned to my dormitory and found a child there, hugging my leg and calling me Female Father. He said he'd come from ten years in the future, and his Male Father was the male academy heartthrob from the neighboring academy.】

[Surprise!]

[Look what I found! A freshly opened new book!]

Only the synopsis had been released.

The main text wasn't out yet.

But that didn't affect the readers' excitement.

[Campus story this time? Looking forward to it!]

[What does this synopsis mean? What do you mean a child came from the future???]

[The Zerg race has cutting-edge spatial technology, but time has always remained an unsolved problem.]

[According to legends, top male Zergs can travel through time with psychic power, but that's just myth. There are no actual examples.]

As always, the readers doubted anything involving reality.

[Did Author An decide to write science fiction?]

[When has his work not been science fiction?]

[Not really. It looks like science fiction, but Lord Xi'an and Colonel Claire actually got together! If we're being serious, that's true realism.]

[Don't remind me. I never imagined the most science-fiction-like CP I shipped would be the first to become real.]

After the previous novel, readers knew not to judge Author An's books by appearances alone.

Nobody dwelled on that topic.

[Who cares about time travel? The important thing is there's already a child at the beginning! And his Male Father is the male academy heartthrob next door! I wouldn't even dare dream this big!]

[Author An really knows how to write dream stories. If I didn't know he wrote this, I'd think some military female got high on pheromones and started daydreaming.]

The Zerg race had power fantasies.

But they were all career progression stories.

Who had ever seen a romance power fantasy where you started with a child and unlocked your future Male Lord?

Just the synopsis alone was enough to get them high.

But some more rational readers poured cold water on the excitement.

[Don't celebrate too early. A male Zerg still in school might not acknowledge that future child.]

[Male Zergs never lack females willing to bear children for them. They don't value children as much as females do.]

[We know that, but dreaming doesn't hurt.]

[If this were reality, I'd agree with you. But this is Author An's book.]

[€€, having a child is already enough. Countless females spend their entire lives unable to obtain one. Learn to let go.]

As they discussed, they kept refreshing.

Eventually, the first chapter appeared.

...

【Today marked the opening day for the neighboring academy's male Zerg students.

Even the air seemed filled with faint traces of male Zerg pheromones, stirring the hearts of military academy students everywhere.

Many females were already discussing heading to certain streets after training to "accidentally" run into male Zergs.

Even if it meant spending precious leave time.

Iso focused entirely on assembling his weapon and didn't participate in the conversation.

Male Zergs weren't part of his life plan.

At least not in the next twenty years.

...】

Readers silently exited to reread the synopsis.

["Child from Ten Years in the Future" and "Not in the next twenty years."]

[LOL. Fastest face-slapping in history. Can you keep talking tough any longer?]

[For ordinary females, marrying a male Zerg without decades of struggle is pure fantasy. His life plan is fine, but the synopsis already spoiled everything.]

[It's over. I'm already curious how he found a male Zerg and had a child within ten years.]

...

【After training ended, Iso declined his roommates' invitation to go out and headed to the cafeteria alone.

Today there were far fewer diners, allowing him to easily pack up a nutritious meal and return to his dormitory.

The moment he opened the door, his instincts told him something was wrong.

Things on his desk had been touched.

The chair had moved.

His neatly folded blanket had become a wrinkled heap on the bed.

Veins bulged on Iso's forehead.

If the disciplinary squad saw this, he'd receive at least one formal warning.

Fine.

Let's see who this uninvited guest is.

Setting down his lunchbox, Iso walked directly toward the bathroom.

Stopping at the door, he knocked twice with a dark expression.

The intruder inside seemed startled.

A slipping sound echoed, followed by a childlike cry.

Iso frowned and pushed open the door.

His eyes met those of a black-haired child covered in soap bubbles, sitting on the floor.

The moment the child saw him, he burst into tears.

"Waaah, Female Father, chirp..."

"I wanted to take a bath, but the switch was too high. I had to stand on tiptoe to reach it."

"The floor is slippery..."

Iso's brain went completely blank.

But seeing the child sitting there crying his heart out, he still walked over and picked him up.

He turned on the water.

Adjusted the temperature.

Washed away the bubbles.

Carefully dried him.

Wrapped him in a towel and carried him out of the bathroom.

"Female Father, I'm hungry."

The freshly washed child wrapped his arms around Iso's neck and acted spoiled.

Iso placed him on the chair and opened the nutritious meal he'd brought back.

The child, still wrapped like a dumpling in the bath towel, looked down at himself.

This didn't seem right.

Looking hopefully at his usually reliable Female Father, he found him completely blank-faced and useless.

Since he was starving, he had no choice but to rely on himself.

Stretching one hand out from the towel, he grabbed the fork and began eating.

While the little one ate like a fluffy animal, Iso quietly observed him.

The Zerg race possessed bloodline resonance.

He was absolutely certain that this child shared a very deep blood connection with him.

With resonance this strong, even if the child wasn't his biological offspring, he would at least belong to his twin brother.

But Iso had no twin brother.

He didn't even have family.

He had been born in the chaotic underground districts and abandoned while still an egg.

In places like that, raising a child was difficult.

Abandoned eggs and children were everywhere.

And the inherited memories of the Zerg race meant that from the moment he hatched, he had known he was an orphan.

No family.

No siblings.

No contact with male Zergs.

Yet now—

He had a child.

No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't understand where the child had come from.

"Female Father, I'm full."

Looking embarrassed at the leftovers in the lunchbox, the black-haired child said,

"There was too much. I couldn't finish."

This was an adult female's nutritious meal.

For a child, it was far too much.

"Leave it."

Iso glanced at the food.

Over half remained.

Most of the meat had been eaten.

The vegetables had barely been touched.

This was a picky eater.

"Female Father, clothes..."

The child tugged at the towel and looked at him helplessly.

This truly stumped Iso.

His clothes were far too large.

The child couldn't wear them.

He could only leave the child wrapped in the towel while he washed the clothes the child had changed out of and put them into the dryer.

When he returned with the dried clothes, the child had already climbed onto his bed and hidden entirely beneath the blanket.

Judging from his breathing, he wasn't asleep.

Walking over, Iso was just about to call him out—

When the child suddenly lifted the blanket and bared his little teeth ferociously.

"Rawr~ I'm a terrifying beast of the universe!"

Iso, unsure whether he should pretend to be frightened:

"..."

In the end, he simply carried the child down and dressed him.

After all that excitement, the little one was exhausted.

He yawned in Iso's arms.

Yet he stubbornly refused to sleep.

Rubbing his eyes, he complained,

"Female Father, why are you so cold today? You won't even play with me. You're no fun."

Holding the child with one arm while making the bed with the other, Iso glanced at him.

"What was I like before?"

The child thought seriously.

With nostalgia in his voice, he answered,

"You were cold too. Cool and handsome. But gentler. Sometimes you smiled. You played with Male Father and me."

Iso remained silent even longer.

"You... what's your name? Who is your Male Father?"

The sleepy child instantly woke up.

Nearly jumping out of Iso's arms, he stared in disbelief.

"Female Father! You don't remember me? You don't remember Male Father either? Oh no! My Female Father has amnesia!"

The little child held his face in terror.

If Iso's memories hadn't been so complete, he might have suspected he'd lost part of them and had somehow acquired a child {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} with some male Zerg lord during that missing period.

But that was impossible.

He was still a military academy student.

Twenty years old.

His physiological awakening had only occurred two years ago.

There was no way he could have produced a child this old.

A Zerg child's age was difficult to judge, but this one was definitely over two years old.

Pregnancy and hatching together required almost a year.

He truly couldn't have a child this old.

Yet somehow—

There was the faintest trace of regret in Iso's heart.

He had lived alone in this world.

Without any blood connections.

He genuinely longed for a child of his own.

But what wasn't his would never become his.

No matter how close their blood connection might be.

Looking on the bright side—

Perhaps through this child, he could find other relatives.

Although they might not want to acknowledge him.

Adjusting his mood, Iso looked at the child.

"Tell me about yourself."

"And your home..."

"Where is your home?"

...】