Yi Ta and Yi Si followed Nuo Wei to the door of the conference room, pulling it open for him, then quietly stepped outside once the Major General entered.
They locked the door behind them, unable to bear watching.
The correctional facility was a sword hanging over the heads of all female zergs. Those who faced them would either suffer cruel physical punishment or be exiled mercilessly. They couldn’t see Nuo Wei being the exception to this rule.
Moreover, even if Nuo Wei tried to hide it, the dim markings on his neck couldn’t be faked. That dark, ugly mark was unmistakable—one look from the correctional facility and they knew this female had not been favored during the seven days since he was released.
A sinning female who has not even been favored, what right does she have to firmly hold the position of the female monarch?
Yi Ta and Yi Si were secretly disheartened when a tall figure approached from behind. He was wearing a long black and gold-patterned coat, with twelve shoulder epaulets arranged in sequence, gleaming. Yi Ta and Yi Si quickly bowed in greeting: “Admiral…”
“Shh.” Admiral Erwen gestured for them to stay quiet and motioned for them to enter a nearby office. He then reviewed the surveillance footage from the meeting room.
Inside, the disciplinary officer from the teaching management office nodded to Nuo Wei and then said, “Please, sir, move your hair aside so we can see the zerg patterns on the back of your neck?”
The back of a female’s neck often displays a colorful Zerg pattern, typically concealed by the collar and hair and not easily shown. Nuo Wei hesitated for a moment, then gathered his hair with one hand, exposing that part of his skin to the officer’s view.
The officer took Nuo Wei ‘s hand in his and moved it aside, closely examining the back of the female’s neck: “Clearly, Major General, your male master has not favored you.”
Nuo Wei tightly clenched the hem of his coat and spoke in a calm tone: “Yes, sir, as you can see.”
The officer checked a box on a form, marking “extremely un-favored” under intimacy.
“Alright, Major General, let’s move on to the next check,” the officer pulled out a rectangular box and attached two electrode patches to Nuo Wei’s temples: “How is your mental state?”
Nuo Wei replied, “… It’s fine.”
Just as he spoke, the machine’s needle rapidly spun, finally settling on the red ‘danger’ zone.
The officer chuckled, “Is that still ‘fine,’ Major General Nuo Wei?”
He marked ‘not submissive’ and ‘not honest’ under the columns labeled ‘submissive’ and ‘honest’ in the report. With a slight shrug, he said, “I’m sorry, Major General, but your stubbornness has earned you two ‘not’ ratings. I hope your male master won’t question your character because of it.”
Nuo Wei pressed his lips together.
In the zerg world, the male is like a god at home, intolerant of deceit and disobedience. Having those two ‘not’ marked essentially seals his fate.
Next were a few routine checks related to hormones and reproduction, which showed no significant issues. The officer closed the report: “Major General, the hard metrics have been completed, as you can see, the results aren’t good. Now, let’s move on to the softer indicators.”
Nuo Wei nodded, “… Yes.”
The officer opened another form: “Major General, I need to know if you have truly reflected on your mistakes. Now, please kneel and tell me about your wrongdoings at the time.”
This part was standard procedure. Every female released from the correctional facility had to go through it. Nuo Wei had his speech prepared; he maintained a calm expression as he recounted, “I shouldn’t have left the male master alone on the second floor where the railing height was not adequate, nor should I have allowed the male master to leave my sight when I knew he had just woken up and lacked the ability to protect himself. While cooking in the kitchen, I…”
“Sorry to interrupt,” the officer frowned. “Major General, I said please kneel. During your reflection, you should not be standing like that. Do you also remain so arrogant when reflecting in front of your male master?”
Nuo Wei remained silent for a moment, neither speaking nor kneeling.
Chu Ci had told him he didn’t need to kneel.
The officer calmly met his gaze, laughing after three seconds. He then pulled up the previous report, erasing the ‘not submissive’ option and replacing it with ‘extremely not submissive.’
“Military females are always so wild and untamed,” the officer shook his head. “They need to experience some hardship to understand what they should and shouldn’t do.”
As he spoke, he reached out to grab Nuo Wei, pressing down on his shoulder to force him to kneel.
Nuo Wei was a military female and a Major General, having piloted the most difficult starships and navigated through vast asteroid belts and heavy fire. If he didn’t want to, the officer naturally couldn’t force him to kneel.
The officer tugged at his wrist with more force, unable to bring Nuo Wei down, while he himself stumbled and fell onto the sofa, his nails leaving a red streak across the place where their hands were joined.
Hot blood pooled at Nuo Wei’s fingertips, and he lowered his head, seeing the raw marks on his palm.
His expression remained indifferent, but an uncontrollable sense of restlessness filled him.
That was the spot where Chu Ci had kissed him.
His male master seemed particularly fond of this soft spot in his palm, repeatedly leaving kiss after kiss there. Nuo Wei even received a promise because of it—that when the marks were left there, he could contact Chu Ci.
So now, with such a large bloodstain, could he contact Chu Ci?
The officer noticed Nuo Wei’s gaze, sneering with derision, “A small injury like that—surely you’re not unable to bear it, Major General? I suggest you kneel now…”
His words dripped with mockery as he continued speaking, but Nuo Wei didn’t listen. His fingertips were cold, the blood trickling down his skin, and he felt the warmth rolling along that streak.
The healing abilities of females were terrifying, but Nuo Wei’s muscles tensed in his palm, silently pulling at the injury, causing more blood to pool at his fingertips. His heart was filled with restless anxiety, wanting to throw the incessantly talking officer out, yet wavering with doubt and a touch of sadness, a mix of emotions tearing at his small chest, finally manifesting as overwhelming bitterness and sourness.
This bitterness and sourness was so overwhelming, so difficult to shake off, filling his entire chest almost to the point of drowning, threatening to overflow.
His emotions are so distressed, the injured hand trembling slightly, Admiral Erwen watched closely. Suddenly, he stood and knocked on the door to the conference room.
The officer opened the door from the inside, ready to scold, but upon seeing the Admiral’s medals, he silently swallowed his words. Admiral Erwen was one of the few females in the Zerg who could disregard the face of the Protection Association, maintaining a serene smile, “Sorry, but there’s a high-level emergency in the military that requires Nuo Wei’s participation. Can we pause here for ten minutes?”
The face-saving gesture and high-level emergency were worth ten minutes of leeway; the officer nodded, “Please go ahead.”
Admiral Erwen escorted Nuo Wei to a nearby office, offering him a glass of water, “Collect yourself.”
Confronting the officer with this expression only led to more mistakes.
Nuo Wei held the cup with both hands, staring at his reflection in the water. The blood in his palm flowed down the cup’s walls, leaving terrifying marks on the pure white military trousers. Yet, despite the gruesome appearance, the female’s terrifying healing ability had already started to take effect within five minutes, knitting the wound closed.
Nuo Wei suddenly lifted his head and asked, “Can I go to the bathroom?”
Admiral Erwen only hoped he wouldn’t make more mistakes in his current state, not wanting to get involved in these minor details. He glanced at the time and waved his hand, “You can, but time is running out—only six minutes left. In those six minutes, I need you to stay calm. If you can’t manage, splash your head with cold water in the bathroom.”
Nuo Wei stood up from the sofa, clutching his light brain, and hurried towards the restroom at the end of the corridor.
He closed the bathroom door, used the light brain to take a picture of his palm, and shakily typed, “My Lord, are you there?”
He glanced at the time—it was down to five minutes.
Nuo Wei trembled as he closed the light brain and then braced his hands on the sink, pressing his forehead against the cold mirror.
‘Please,’ Nuo Wei thought, ‘just five more minutes, please reply.’
Even if you don’t plan to come, at least tell me…
Don’t leave me without a reply…
In the drawn-out silence, he lifted his gaze to the reflection of the female in the mirror. Due to the strain on his mental sea and the seven-day retrospective, Nuo Wei looked somewhat haggard, his expression distant and uninteresting. He turned on the tap, adjusting the water to its coldest setting, emotionlessly washing his hands before covering his chilled, reddened fingers with his cheek.
Meanwhile, back at home, Chu Ci had just finished his meal prepared by the robotic housekeeper and was going through new documents from the company.
Every new employee training in any company was dull and uninteresting. He picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, and suddenly his light brain beeped, with a distinctive sound different from others.
It was Nuo Wei.
Nuo Wei was a special concern for Chu Ci. The silly zerg always tended to overthink. Chu Ci suspected that if he didn’t reply to the message promptly, Nuo Wei would start worrying and might end up recalling the message. After that, months could pass, and their chat history would still be blank.
Chu Ci opened the communication interface, his chopsticks freezing in midair.
The injury on Nuo Wei’s palm was several times more severe than the first time he hurt himself.
The wound was raw and bleeding profusely, but the silly zerg said nothing, only asking, “My Lord, are you there?”
Chu Ci quickly inquired, “What’s wrong?”
The prompt tone on Nuo Wei’s light brain sounded, and the female lifted her face from the sink, staring blankly at the reply from the male.
Before Nuo Wei sent the message to Chu Ci, he had desperately missed him, wanting to establish a connection with his master—even if it was just a reply on the star network. But now that the male had actually replied, he didn’t know what to say.
What could he say? Should he tell that he didn’t want the follow-up visit from the correctional facility, felt embarrassed and wronged, or admit he was scared and wanted the male to come over to comfort him?
The correctional facility wasn’t going to do anything to Nuo Wei; it was just a routine check-up for all females who had been released from there. The final decision of the male was what truly mattered.
The male had promised him he wouldn’t be sent back today; it was just a regular check-up. Yet, he didn’t even want this.
Having been kissed by the male, Nuo Wei had become more delicate. He used to be able to kneel down without a second thought—no matter if it was a wound on his palm or a broken rib, they weren’t a big deal. But this time, he just couldn’t control it, that feeling of unease, and his desperate need for contact with Chu Ci.
This shouldn’t be happening.
So, Nuo Wei replied, “It’s nothing, I’m sorry to bother you.”
Chu Ci was both amused and exasperated. He typed, “I’m not bothering you, idiot.”
Then, before Nuo Wei could react, he sent another message, “Nuo Wei, pick up the phone.”
Nuo Wei blinked, realizing the male had sent him a voice call invitation that he had ignored.
He quickly accepted the call, and Chu Ci was already halfway down the stairs, pulling out a flying vehicle from the garage. He looked at the red dot on the location tracking on his light brain and asked, “Are you in the C District, Building No. 2 at the military base?”
The male master had the authority to locate his female’ monarch’s light brain, but due to human privacy concerns, Chu Ci had hardly ever used this function.
He stepped into the flying vehicle, ignited the engines, and launched smoothly—all within a few seconds, the engine roared loudly.
“Nuo Wei, don’t hang up. I’m coming right now.”
Chu Ci’s voice came through the light brain, mixed with the sound of the thrusters firing, making it hard to hear. He kept repeating, “Don’t hang up, I’m coming right now.”
During all this, the male didn’t even ask what had happened to the female.
Nuo Wei needed him, so Chu Ci went—just like that, simple.
