Chapter 71: The God Lowers His Gaze: Would a God Lower His Gaze for a Character No One Ever Expected?

An Ruo completely lost interest in escaping.

Returning to his beloved little nest...

He actually felt a little relieved.

Thank goodness.

He didn't have to leave after all.

He had never truly figured out how he would survive outside.

Nor had he ever believed he could escape the Federation's all-encompassing pursuit.

He really was just an extremely fragile, socially anxious homebody.

Those two star-hours of escaping had already drained every last bit of his energy.

An Ruo ate the breakfast that was still pleasantly warm, took a nice hot shower, crawled into his new bed, rolled over once, and hugged the quilt tightly, taking a deep breath of the reassuring scent.

The old one had been better than the new one.

Still...

He decided to forgive Ulysses for stealing his old bed.

For one second.

...Many seconds.

Suddenly, he remembered he hadn't done today's psychic soothing session.

Everyone must have been waiting anxiously.

An Ruo hurriedly climbed out of bed to change clothes.

The terminal on his wrist lit up.

A notification from the novel website had arrived.

His previous novel had officially concluded, earning a total of 13＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ in reader rewards.

His older completed novel had accumulated another 67＊＊＊＊＊＊＊.

After platform deductions, the total amounted to... star credits.

Please withdraw your earnings as soon as possible.

Only then did An Ruo remember this.

It was a string of numbers that gave him an immense sense of accomplishment.

Ulysses had already opened a dedicated account for him to store his star credits.

An Ruo withdrew all of his royalties.

Then, together with the royalties from his previous novel, transferred everything to Ulysses.

Afraid the other man would refuse again, this time he added a longer note to the transfer.

"I've already accepted your apology gift. This is my apology gift to you.

"I know this means almost nothing to you, but it is everything I own."

He had arrived in this world with absolutely nothing.

Only these royalties had been earned through his own efforts.

They truly belonged to him.

He alone had the right to decide how to use them.

Everything else—

His room inside the prison.

The clothes he wore.

The things he used every day.

Even everything stored inside his spatial button...

All of them had been provided by someone else.

None of them truly belonged to him.

These intangible virtual numbers...

Were the only possessions he actually owned.

"I am deeply sorry for everything you suffered... When I wrote those words, I never imagined they would become reality..."

He had wanted to create a powerful opponent.

The strongest combatant.

The first SSS-rank female Zerg in history.

A being who, through sheer strength alone, reached the upper limit of combat power in the universe.

The absolute pinnacle of the entire novel.

No one could stand against him.

He possessed supreme authority.

Supreme Commander of the Federation.

Founder of the Federation's military government.

The one who held absolute power.

He also possessed unmatched prestige.

Every female Zerg genuinely admired and followed him.

Even the novel's protagonist had begun as one of his most fanatical admirers.

He possessed unwavering determination and extraordinary wisdom.

No obstacle could ever stop him.

Every difficulty became another stepping stone beneath his feet, allowing him to climb even higher.

From an abandoned egg sent to an orphanage...

To becoming the Federation's Supreme Commander.

He always knew exactly what he wanted.

From beginning to end, he never abandoned his ideals.

...

In the end...

He died beneath those very ideals and policies.

An Ruo had created him.

And he had destroyed him.

He had given him glory.

And he had given him suffering.

When all of that became reality...

When a name that had existed only inside a novel became a living person standing before him...

When those silver-gray eyes met his...

Their gaze pierced through the chaos and clamor of the courtroom...

Pierced through books...

Pierced through words...

The world that collapsed...

Was An Ruo's.

...

Capital Star.

Military Headquarters.

Ulysses sat behind his desk.

Layer after layer of holographic screens floated before him.

Learning that everything he had devoted himself to would ultimately collapse...

Was certainly terrible news.

Though...

It wasn't entirely unexpected.

He was walking a path no Zerg had ever walked before.

He was trying to overturn a social structure that had existed unchanged for millions of years.

Failure was the most natural outcome.

But Ulysses had no intention of giving up.

Even if he already knew the road ended only in death.

Some things...

Had to be accelerated.

Beep.

A message suddenly appeared.

Ulysses glanced at it.

Recognizing the familiar account number, he opened it.

Another transfer from that Male Zerg.

He had already given him an account.

There was no need for him to...

Ulysses' gaze suddenly froze.

The accompanying message unfolded before him.

His eyes slowly traveled across every line.

"..."

Would a god...

Lower His gaze for a character no one had ever expected?

Another report lit up.

This one came from Uriel.

Today, His Lordship had rarely left his room.

Secretly.

He had gone on a two-star-hour walk.

It had been so secretive...

That everyone monitoring the surveillance cameras stared until their eyes blurred without realizing His Lordship had wandered all the way to Basement Level One—

Where he encountered an escaping female Zerg.

Fortunately...

Both sides remained safe.

Uriel tactfully criticized him for removing the Male Zerg's restraint bracelet.

Watching over an "A-rank" Lord with unrestricted psychic power who also happened to be extremely withdrawn...

Was simply too difficult for prison management.

This Lord would withdraw so completely...

That he disappeared from everyone's sight.

Even from the surveillance footage.

There was no way to provide services...

To a ghost.

"..."

Ulysses reread the report several times.

Then carefully evaluated Uriel's current mental condition.

Only then did he finally piece together the entire sequence of events.

"He"...

Had removed the Male Zerg's restraint bracelet.

Only he had visited His Lordship during that period.

Naturally, everyone assumed he had been the one to remove it.

Then His Lordship had gone out for a "walk."

Vanished into thin air.

Appeared on Basement Level One.

And encountered an escaping female Zerg.

The veins at Ulysses' temple throbbed violently.

Basement Level One housed only extremely dangerous high-ranking military female Zergs suffering from psychic riots.

If any one of them escaped...

The resulting destruction would be impossible to predict.

Uriel's report had glossed over this part far too briefly.

Just as Ulysses prepared to request more details...

Another message arrived.

This time...

A private email.

General Selerus has awakened.

Ulysses' pupils contracted violently.

The word awakened should never be used for a female Zerg in psychic riot.

They had always been awake.

Only overwhelming doses of anesthetics and tranquilizers could force them into temporary stillness.

Without self-awareness.

Like wild beasts.

Consumed by endless psychic frenzy.

Enduring infinite suffering.

Forever unable to sleep.

Waiting only for the day their energy was exhausted and they finally died.

That was the fate of every female Zerg driven into psychic riot.

But now...

Uriel was telling him...

His father had awakened.

Ulysses rose abruptly and strode toward the exit.

...

Military Region Prison.

Basement Level One.

Thinking about meeting his hatchling...

The female Zerg, who had never felt the slightest embarrassment about remaining in his insectoid form in front of Male Zergs or prison guards, suddenly realized rather belatedly...

He should probably make himself look a little more presentable.

He had lived in his original form for so long...

He had forgotten what his other form even looked like.

He had also forgotten how to transform back.

After struggling alone inside his cell for quite some time...

He finally managed to shape himself into something vaguely resembling a person.

Black hair.

Red eyes.

Pale skin.

His body still carried the coldness and madness left behind by psychic riot.

His enormous black wings dragged behind him.

His scaled tail refused to retract, repeatedly slapping the floor in irritation.

After knocking down one wall to summon Uriel...

He finally obtained a proper set of clothes to wear.

When Ulysses arrived at the prison...

He saw Selerus sitting there.

His hands and feet bound by chains.

A restraint collar capable of ending his life fastened around his neck.

High-voltage current coursed continuously through the chains.

Electric arcs crackled and burst into the air.

The two female Zergs—

Whose appearances were strikingly similar...

Yet whose temperaments couldn't have been more different—

Silently looked at one another inside the cell.

For a long time...

Neither spoke.

Only the buzzing of electricity echoed through the room.

A Zerg's bloodline instinct allowed them to recognize each other immediately.

It was simply...

Rather absurd...

For their first meeting while both were fully conscious to happen under these circumstances.

Selerus was the more shocked of the two.

The warm little egg decorated with beautiful patterns in his memories...

Had somehow become this solemn, taciturn female Zerg with impossibly long proportions.

What was he supposed to say?

"I held you when you were still inside your egg."

Although...

Not for very long.

He had soon been forced to let go.

At that time, his mental condition had already deteriorated terribly.

He could barely suppress his insectoid transformation.

He had only just laid his egg and was at his weakest.

His newly born hatchling had been taken away.

Meanwhile, because of his psychic riot, and with his Male Lord's signature...

He had been sent to the Military Region Prison.

Ulysses' gaze settled on the chains crackling with electricity.

"These...

Are necessary precautions."

Selerus slowly spoke with a voice he had barely used in decades.

He had forgotten nearly all of the Zerg language.

Before every sentence, he had to pause to remember how to speak.

"You're conscious."

Ulysses said.

"I'm not."

Selerus denied it.

"I could lose control at any moment...

And become a beast."

Perhaps...

He already was one.

Without another word, Ulysses turned and walked toward the exit.

"Stop."

After so many years without speaking to anyone, Selerus unconsciously slipped back into the commanding tone he had used as a General.

It wasn't intentional.

Ulysses stopped.

He paid no attention to something so insignificant.

Selerus' eyes flickered slightly.

Softening his voice, he asked,

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to beg—"

Ulysses lowered his eyes.

He never turned around.

Selerus tilted his head slightly, looking confused.

"You're stronger than I am."

Selerus said.

"I was...

Sent to prison.

You sent your Male Lord to prison."

Ulysses remained silent.

Selerus stared at him.

"What happened?"

"...It's complicated."

Ulysses answered after a pause.

Selerus said,

"Then forget it.

Complicated things...

I can't understand them anymore.

Solve them yourself."

"..."

Selerus only added,

"Begging a Male Zerg...

Is the most useless thing you can do."

...

Begging a Male Zerg was useless.

Praying to a god...

Was probably no different.

Ulysses left Basement Level One.

As he walked through the floor where the Male Zergs lived...

He happened to encounter the Male Zerg emerging from the treatment room.

Their eyes met.

Silence.

At last, An Ruo spoke first.

"Hello?"

"...Good day."

Silence settled between them once again.

An Ruo wasn't someone who initiated conversations.

He glanced at Ulysses.

Seeing that the other man didn't appear to have anything to say—

Nor did he seem to have come looking for him—

An Ruo assumed the greeting was over and simply walked past him.

Ulysses noticed the Male Zerg wasn't heading back toward his room.

After hesitating briefly...

He followed.

"Are you leaving?"

An Ruo turned his head in confusion.

"It's work."

That wasn't the direction of the treatment room either.

Ulysses followed him into the elevator.

An Ruo now had unrestricted access throughout the prison.

He pressed the button for Basement Level One.

Ulysses' pupils shrank.

"You...?"

Only extremely dangerous female Zergs suffering from psychic riots were confined there.

An Ruo explained,

"I discovered there are many military female Zergs imprisoned here.

Most of them haven't committed any serious crimes.

They're only here because of psychic riots.

I'd like to try treating them."

For a long while, Ulysses couldn't find any words.

This Lord had indeed been performing psychic soothing for military female Zergs every day.

Like checking off a daily routine.

One by one.

Anyone who applied.

It had always looked as though this was simply one part of his experience living here.

But now...

His gaze had turned underground.

After a long silence, Ulysses asked almost absentmindedly,

"...Uriel agreed?"

That prison warden who protected Male Zergs like helpless hatchlings...

Had actually agreed to let His Lordship face female Zergs consumed by psychic riots?

"He didn't agree."

An Ruo smiled with quiet satisfaction.

"But he can't stop me."

Ever since completing his "prison break," An Ruo had discovered that his authority and freedom inside the prison were much greater than he had imagined.

So...

Every once in a while...

He could push his luck just a little.

Act out a tiny bit of a Male Zerg's willfulness.

No one would hold it against him.