TCPUAAV Chapter 119

 

Note: I reuploaded this chapter again because some people have mentionned there are issues with repeating paragraphs. I tested it out with multiple browsers/devices and it should be fixed now <3 thank you for telling me!

 

 

 

The two of them exchanged a few more idle remarks about the news, but neither was actually paying any attention to it. Instead, what they were keenly aware of was the steady heat radiating from each other’s legs, still pressed close together. At first, it was just a little distracting—then it started to feel hot. Almost stifling. A faint sheen of sweat began to form.

 

Even the air around them seemed to grow thicker, saturated with heat and something unspoken.

 

Neither of them said another word. A silent understanding settled between them. Rong Heng kept his eyes fixed on the terminal, pretending to scroll through news, though all the while he was sneaking glances at Ruan Shiqing from the corner of his eye.

 

The young man beside him sat straight and proper, seemingly affected by his presence as well. His gaze was lowered, also fixed on the terminal—though from Rong Heng’s angle, he couldn’t see what exactly he was looking at.

 

He told himself he should say something, anything, to break this strange and charged silence.

 

But the warmth against his leg refused to be ignored, growing hotter and more distracting by the second. It left him dry-mouthed and restless. The worst part was—Ruan Shiqing looked like he didn’t mind at all. As if he didn’t feel the tension at all.

 

Or… maybe he did. And was silently letting it happen.

 

That possibility made Rong Heng’s heart start thundering again, erratic and out of control. If he’d been hooked up to a heart monitor, the display would’ve looked like someone deathly ill—sharp spikes and sudden drops, with no sign of stabilizing.

 

He glanced at the other man’s beautiful side profile, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly. Gathering his courage, he leaned in again—just a little closer.

 

This time, their thighs weren’t just brushing. They were pressed flush together, skin to skin beneath the thin fabric, not a sliver of space left.

 

There was no way that could go unnoticed, right?

 

Rong Heng watched him closely, heart caught in his throat, waiting to see how he would respond—eager to confirm whether his guess was right.

 

In the heavy silence, every second dragged on endlessly. It had only been a few moments, but to Rong Heng, it felt like he’d been waiting for an eternity. Then, as if finally sensing something, Ruan Shiqing lifted his head and looked at him. His dark eyes gleamed with an emotion Rong Heng couldn’t quite decipher.

 

He opened his mouth, seemingly about to say something—

 

But in that crucial moment, 09 suddenly blurted out excitedly from the side, shattering the dense, smoldering atmosphere like a bucket of cold water.

 

“Sally and Jason just made their move!”

 

Ruan Shiqing blinked, clearly caught off guard. Whatever he had been about to say was swallowed back down. He stood up and walked over to 09. “They’ve done something?”

 

—09 was connected to the ship’s internal network and could receive updates the fastest.

 

“Yep, they stole a shuttle and left the rescue ship.” As he spoke, he pulled up the footage and displayed it.

 

In the feed, several light-years away, the rescue ship continued cruising normally. But near its inconspicuous stern, a tiny shuttle had quietly detached and was flying in the opposite direction.

 

After all the waiting, their targets had finally made a move. Ruan Shiqing’s focus snapped into place. Reinvigorated, he immediately notified the others and headed off toward the operations room with quick strides.

 

09 followed close behind.

 

Left behind, the Crown Prince’s expression twisted into something grim. He had no choice but to get up and follow, brushing roughly past the little robot as he went. As he did, he shot 09 a vicious glare.

 

09: ?????

 

Why is Snowball being so mean all of a sudden? QAQ

 

*

 

The team quickly gathered in the operations room upon receiving the alert.

 

Ruan Shiqing set Sally and Jason’s shuttle as a high-priority tracking target, then projected the virtual screen for all to see, displaying the current situation in real time.

 

The shuttle was speeding toward an uninhabited star sector—much earlier than anyone had anticipated. Based on their previous estimations, they had assumed the pair would wait at least two more hours, making their move only upon reaching the outskirts of the sector.

 

What they didn’t know was that a warship had already silently locked onto them and was trailing close behind.

 

Inside the shuttle, Sally’s body lay slumped in the co-pilot seat. Several pairs of insectoid limbs had already extended from her back, and she was on the verge of losing her human form.

 

“Faster… I can’t hold on much longer.”

 

The eggs inside her required a tremendous amount of nutrients before they could hatch. Normally, such nutrients would be supplied by low-tier Zerg drones. Back on Driftwood Star, they had already cultivated a brood of those drones to serve as nourishment for the soon-to-be-born queens. But after their plans were disrupted, Sally had been forced to hastily conceal the nearly matured eggs within her own abdomen and flee with them.

 

But these eggs were evidently of a higher tier—likely close to true queen-level—and had begun treating her as nothing more than a nutrient host, attempting to devour her from the inside out to complete their hatching.

 

It was because of this that she and Jason had been forced to accelerate their escape plan.

 

Now, they had no choice but to contact their kin who were supposed to rendezvous in the uninhabited sector and urge them to change course and meet earlier.

 

The shuttle streaked through the dark void of space at high speed, while behind them, the blue warship followed steadily, maintaining a safe tracking distance.

 

Roughly half an hour later, as the shuttle neared the borders of the uninhabited region, it suddenly decelerated and came to a hover. Then, without any warning, a black hole ripped open beside the shuttle—and from its depths, a massive black warship slowly emerged.

 

The entire operations room fell into stunned silence.

 

A black hole appearing with no warning—everyone in the room understood what that meant. Especially when it was followed by that strange and monstrous-looking black warship. It was no wonder the Zerg had been able to slip into imperial space undetected and run rampant—their level of technology was clearly far more advanced than anyone had imagined.

 

The mood in the room turned grim.

 

Rong Heng narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, his gaze locked onto the black warship. “We can’t let them get away today.”

 

Everyone immediately understood what he meant. Merrell quickly contacted the other warships that had been lying in wait. Hector and Garland took the little ones and rushed to the lower deck to mobilize their combat units. Everyone sprang into action, leaving only Ruan Shiqing and Rong Heng in the operations room.

 

Ruan Shiqing pointed at the projection of the black warship. “This isn’t one of the Empire’s standard-issue models—it must’ve been secretly built by the Zerg. But according to our intel, the Zerg don’t possess the technology to manufacture warships. That means… there’s a collaborator inside the Empire. Someone has been working with those humanoid Zerg.”

 

As he spoke, he zoomed in on the footage and replayed the moment the black hole appeared, pausing the video. He pointed to a specific section of the screen. “This black hole… it’s not just strange—it looks like it was ripped open by something. If I’m not mistaken, those are Zerg limbs.”

 

——In that brief instant, countless insect-like appendages had appeared, slowly tearing apart the dark void of space, creating a passage large enough for a warship to emerge.

 

If Ruan Shiqing was right, this black hole wasn’t a natural anomaly—it had been forcibly ripped open by the Zerg.

 

He exchanged a look with Rong Heng and hesitated before asking, “How’s the front line been lately?”

 

Because if the Zerg could now tear open space and come and go from imperial territory at will… then the front line defenses were basically meaningless.

 

“Everything looks normal.”

 

But the more “normal” things appeared, the more off it felt.

 

According to Yan Jisi’s latest reports, the Zerg that had previously launched relentless assaults were now mysteriously holding back. Though skirmishes continued, the overall intensity had dropped dramatically.

 

Not only had the Zerg infiltrated deep into the Empire, they’d also learned to create diversions at the front line. If not for the fluke that exposed their movements, the Empire would still be completely in the dark.

 

Rong Heng’s expression was dark and clouded.

 

Everyone who had been alerted quickly assembled in the operations room.

 

Ruan Shiqing marked the shuttle piloted by Sally and Jason as a high-priority tracking target, then shared the virtual screen so everyone could see what was happening in real time.

 

The shuttle was moving fast, heading straight toward the uninhabited star sector—much earlier than expected. According to their initial predictions, the pair would have waited at least another two hours before making a move upon reaching the destination.

 

But what Sally and Jason didn’t know was that a warship was already following them, staying just out of detection range.

 

Inside the shuttle, Sally lay limp in the co-pilot seat. Several pairs of insectoid limbs had already sprouted from her back, and she was barely able to maintain her human disguise.

 

“Faster… I won’t last much longer.”

 

Before hatching, the Zerg eggs required immense nutrient reserves. Normally, such sustenance would be provided by low-level Zerg drones. They had, in fact, cultivated a group of such drones on Driftwood Star to feed these eggs. But their plans had been disrupted. Forced to flee in a hurry, Sally had stashed the nearly-mature eggs within her own body and escaped.

 

But the batch of eggs she carried were clearly of a much higher class—possibly even approaching true Zerg queen level. They had begun treating her like one of the low-level drones, feeding on her as a nutrient source to break their shells and hatch.

 

Had it not been for this, she and Jason would never have advanced their escape plan so suddenly.

 

Now, they had no choice but to contact their allies waiting in the uninhabited star sector and urge them to change course, requesting immediate pickup.

 

The shuttle hurtled through the vast, dark expanse of space, while the trailing blue warship followed calmly behind, maintaining a safe distance.

 

Half an hour later, as the shuttle neared the border of the uninhabited sector, it suddenly decelerated and came to a halt. In the next moment, a black hole tore open beside the shuttle without warning—and from within it, a massive black warship emerged slowly.

 

Back in the operations room, everyone was stunned by the sight.

 

A black hole appearing out of nowhere—it meant only one thing, and everyone in the room knew it. Especially when it was followed by that monstrous, alien-looking black warship. No wonder the Zerg had been able to move so freely through imperial territory—the technology they possessed far exceeded what anyone had imagined.

 

Tension gripped the room.

 

“I want that ship,” Ruan Shiqing said, pointing at the screen, trying to keep his mind off the increasingly disturbing thoughts about the front line. “It’s different from any of the Empire’s existing models. I want to study it.”

 

Rong Heng grunted in agreement and reined in his own thoughts. He opened the communication channels and began issuing combat orders.

 

At that moment, the black warship’s hangar doors were slowly opening, awaiting the shuttle’s arrival—

 

Just as the shuttle approached the docking bay, two ion blasts suddenly shot out—one landed squarely inside the hangar, detonating in the lower deck of the black warship. The other struck the rear of the shuttle.

 

The enemy was completely caught off guard.

 

The shuttle spiraled wildly before it managed to stabilize. Jason, sensing imminent danger, was about to speed away when a violent shudder ran through the shuttle—as though something impossibly solid had just pierced the outer hull.

 

Warning alarms blared across the system. Before Jason could even react, he felt the shuttle being forcefully pulled backward, away from the warship that was meant to retrieve them.

 

Sally, in the co-pilot seat, had completely transformed into her Zerg form. Her once-slightly bulging abdomen was now grotesquely swollen and pulsing. In agonizing pain, she flailed her limbs and let out sharp, piercing screeches.

 

Seeing her condition, Jason gritted his teeth. He abandoned the shuttle altogether, reverting to his true Zerg form and preparing to carry Sally away manually.

 

But as soon as he left the shuttle, two fighter jets cut him off.

 

The little fox was the first to lock on to him and fired without hesitation. The ion blast hit Jason directly in the abdomen.

 

“Watch this!” The little dragon cub shouted, not to be outdone. He fired another round, this time straight into Jason’s chest.

 

The close-range blasts left Jason no time to defend. His body exploded in midair, leaving only his massive head and a pair of twitching limbs still intact.

 

“I’ll drag him back!” the little dragon cub said, deploying the fighter’s robotic arm to clamp onto the barely-living Zerg.

 

“I’ll get the other one,” the little fox replied, maneuvering the robotic arm to retrieve Sally from the damaged shuttle.

 

Sally’s abdomen was grotesquely distended, the ten Zerg eggs inside still siphoning her energy as nourishment. She had no strength left to resist.

 

The two cubs, proud of their spoils, couldn’t wait to report back on the comms channel.

 

“There are still ten Zerg eggs in Sally’s body. I’m coming with you to check them out,” Rong Heng said after receiving the report. He and Ruan Shiqing took the elevator down together.

 

The support robots had already injected both Zerg with muscle relaxants. Now completely immobilized, the Zergs lay limply on the ground, powerless to resist as they were sealed inside reinforced transparent isolation chambers.

 

Ruan Shiqing stared at Sally’s grotesquely swollen belly, a rare look of astonishment flickering across his face.

 

Rong Heng had already explained Sally’s condition earlier—he knew she had swallowed ten important Zerg eggs. But when she returned to the station, her abdomen had shown no signs of being this enlarged.

 

Given their hasty escape, Ruan Shiqing suspected something must have changed with the eggs.

 

After a moment of thought, he instructed the robots to transfer her to the lab for temporary quarantine and observation.

 

After the cubs delivered their “trophies,” they immediately geared up to head back out into battle. However, Ruan Jiao—who had originally been tagging along with the little fox—paused, twitching his feelers thoughtfully before deciding to stay behind.

 

He tugged at Ruan Shiqing’s sleeve and silently followed behind the robot carrying the Zerg, his little brow furrowed tight.

 

When they reached the lab and Ruan Shiqing changed into a white lab coat, ordering the robots to move the two Zerg into position for examination, Ruan Jiao grew visibly more anxious.

 

He couldn’t explain why, but something about Sally’s current state made him deeply uneasy.

 

His feelers twitched restlessly, though he couldn’t articulate the source of his anxiety. All he could do was stick close to his dad, eyes locked nervously on Sally’s bloated, balloon-like abdomen that looked like it might burst at any moment.

 

 

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Yikes the Zergs in this story are quite hardcore. Eggs feeding off from the inside of a fellow Zerg, them taking over planets and tricking ships, having advanced technologies and intelligence… damn

 

(Wonder what would have happened had 09 not interrupted lol)

 

Thanks for reading!

For every three ko-fis, I will upload a bonus chapter~