Chu Ci pushed the flying vehicle to its peak, its bright purple tail slicing through the sky at a speed of 1.4 Mach, creating a small sonic boom. He held his light brain and brought the microphone to his lips, his voice soft and soothing, almost coaxing: “Nuo Wei, tell me, what’s wrong?”
Nuo Wei clenched the communicator with one hand, his knuckles turning white as he roughly wiped his face, wiping away the accidental tears in the corners of his eyes: “It’s nothing, my lord, I’m fine.”
Before today, Nuo Wei hadn’t known he was such a fragile female.
Zerg females had the hardest hearts; they traveled across the most desolate and ruined planets of the universe, winning battle after battle. Nuo Wei had never shed a tear throughout his life, not even when Admiral Erwen scolded him as a child, nor when he married Chu Ci, or when he was thrown into the hellish correctional facility. But the moment the male’s voice came through the communicator, he couldn’t help but tear up.
It was as if all those days of confusion and helplessness finally found a place to rest.
“Don’t rush, Nuo Wei.” Chu Ci softly called his name, “You can take your time to talk, I’m listening.”
“I’m fine, I just…”
Nuo Wei tried to keep his voice steady, but the moment he spoke, his unease was still evident, almost betraying the tremor in his voice.
“Don’t be afraid, Nuo Wei, don’t be afraid.” Chu Ci’s tone was patient, gently comforting.
Males typically didn’t bother to understand the emotions of females, especially military females who were usually cold and stern—acting merely on orders, without much emotion. Some males even thought females had no emotions at all. It was rare for any male, like Chu Ci, to patiently soothe them over and over again.
Finally, Nuo Wei found his voice again in the male’s gentle demeanor. He spoke quietly, “It’s the correctional facility—they’re doing a routine check, but their attitude is a bit aggressive… I…”
I’m scared.
“Alright, I understand,” Chu Ci typed into the browser as he spoke, looking up ‘routine checks of correctional facility.’
Before his awakening, Chu Ci was essentially useless—a male with no memory, who didn’t understand much about males at all, let alone the routine checks of females. What Nuo Wei described made no sense to him at all.
He clicked on the search bar, and the Star Network immediately pulled up hundreds of cases related to routine checks. Chu Ci’s cursor moved slowly through the various images and textual descriptions, his expression growing grimmer.
Zerg females were like startled deer in front of their male masters; any slight change in the male’s emotions could cause a significant reaction in them. In those few seconds of silence, Nuo Wei’s keen instincts picked up on the change. He forced a smile and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, my lord, I probably shouldn’t have disturbed you with this. The check will be over soon. I…”
Chu Ci interrupted him: “Nuo Wei, where are you right now?”
Nuo Wei paused, answering obediently, “In the military department.”
Chu Ci said, “I know it’s in the military department. Specifically, are you alone in a conference room?”
He couldn’t possibly be making a call to him in front of the correctional officers, could he?
Nuo Wei moved his light brain to his right ear and whispered, “In the military’ department’s restroom.”
“Good, Nuo Wei, well done,” Chu Ci said. “Lock the door now. Don’t open it for anyone until I arrive.”
The correctional facility was one of the most domineering organizations in the Zerg race. Even with Nuo Wei’s rank as a Major General, he was no match for them. Only a male could stand up to the correctional facility. Before Chu Ci arrived, he didn’t want his female to be bullied.
Nuo Wei asked, “What…?”
Locking himself in the restroom at the military base to avoid the check—how could that be considered well done?
He didn’t understand the male’s command.
“Lock the door and don’t open it for anyone,” Chu Ci glanced at the map where the military base coordinates were already displayed. With the speed of this aircraft, he could be there in no more than five minutes.
“I’ll be there in five minutes. Stay put in the restroom, and don’t open the door for anyone. If someone tries to get you to open the door, just tell me, understand?”
Nuo Wei raised his hand to check the time; there was still one minute left until Admiral Erwen’s deadline.
Admiral Erwen was both Nuo Wei’s superior and guardian—his orders were absolute. Nuo Wei had never disobeyed his commands.
Chu Ci said, “Listen to me, okay?”
The male’s gentle voice came through the communicator, distant yet close at hand, mixing with the tremendous roar of the engines accelerating.
Even though the sound was so noisy, Nuo Wei’s mind drifted to every morning these past days—making breakfast, placing the cut-up cherry tomatoes on the pristine white bone china plate, and setting the meal on the male’s seat. Then the male would come down the stairs, his hair tousled, eyes bleary with sleep, and say, “Nuo Wei, good morning.”
In the narrow, cramped restroom at the military base, with the officer’s watchful eye and Admiral Erwen’s deadline looming, Nuo Wei’s back pressed against the cold marble sink, yet he felt as safe as he did at home.
Just like every morning when the male tilted his head and said good morning to him.
He nodded firmly, “Okay.”
Chu Ci was still worried about the silly zerg. He instructed, “Don’t open the door, okay? I’m already at the military gate. The guards pointed me to the building where you are. The one with the concrete gray, sandstone exterior—is that right?”
He continued to chatter about his plans, and Nuo Wei occasionally affirmed with “Hmm,” “Yes, here,” and “Okay,” as if they were not in the hard and cold military base but lounging together on the apple-green, lazy bug sofa at home.
Nuo Wei thought of the sofa selected by the male, unwittingly showing a hint of soft emotion.
The countdown reached its one-minute mark, and Nuo Wei’s communicator dinged with Admiral Erwen’s message: “It’s been ten minutes, where are you?”
Chu Ci asked, “What’s that noise?”
Nuo Wei replied, “It’s Admiral Erwen. He wants me to come out.”
Chu Ci said, “Don’t listen to him.”
For a married female zerg, the male’s orders were the highest level of authority, especially if it did not involve imperial military matters. What could an Admiral do?
Nuo Wei responded with a soft “Hmm.”
The sound of boots hitting the floor echoed in the corridor.
The officer, holding the ten-minute countdown, walked up to the restroom door. He bent his knuckles and knocked with a dull, muffled rhythm, his voice low and stern: “Major General Nuo Wei, I think we should continue now.”
Nuo Wei remained silent.
The key was removed, and the door was locked shut. All the doors in the military base were made of carbon-aluminum alloy, incredibly hard, so the officer couldn’t break through the door.
He knocked again, the sound urgent and sharp, like the drumbeats of a sentence being carried out, making the heart go cold.
The officer outside whispered a threat: “Major General, you’re already being extremely uncooperative. I doubt you want me adding another page in front of your male, detailing just how disobedient you’ve been, do you?”
A light laugh came from behind the officer: “How do you plan to report my disobedient female monarch to me?”
The sound of another set of footsteps echoed in the corridor. Chu Ci walked up quickly, his light-colored trench coat slightly rumpled, the sweater uneven on his frame, exposing a hint of his collarbone, indicating he had come in a rush. He smiled slightly, shaking hands with the officer in a polite but distant manner, as if at a formal gathering: “Officer, here I am. If you have any reports to make, you can speak to me directly.”
“Ah…”
Chu Ci was one of the tallest males, almost as tall as Nuo Wei and half a head taller than the officer. Standing silently with a smile on his face, there was an inexplicable sense of pressure. One might bully the underlings, but facing a fellow male, the officer struggled to find his voice.
Nuo Wei also heard the sound of Chu Ci’s voice. He turned the doorknob slightly and stepped out from the restroom.
Chu Ci said, “Stand behind me.”
He assumed a protective stance.
The officer, used to handling countless routine checks, had never encountered Chu Ci’s imposing presence. He fumbled and pulled out a file, offering it to Chu Ci: “These are the results of your female monarch’s examination. Based on our assessment, you and your female monarch are not close enough, her mental state is too agitated, and she is not obedient or honest enough. According to the results, we do not recommend you passing the trial period.”
As the officer spoke, Nuo Wei silently tightened his grip on his clothing.
He had always been the least favored by the male zergs, the worst student in the female monarch manual, with even Xier Fu once predicting his lonely fate. Previously, Nuo Wei hadn’t cared about these judgments; it didn’t matter much if he died on the outer battlefield, in the company of stars, his bones interred among the galaxy. But now, being called out like this in front of Chu Ci, his disobedience and lack of honesty laid bare, Nuo Wei felt an unwelcome sense of embarrassment.
Chu Ci chuckled softly.
He flicked the thin sheets of paper, reading the assessment results from top to bottom, and asked, “Not enough intimacy with Nuo Wei? How did you come to that conclusion?”
The officer paused, taken aback: “You’ve never touched him.”
Chu Ci had previously searched the star network and learned about the zerg patterns. He glanced at the officer with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes: “Sir, you should know that I was injured before—just a week ago, I was still in the hospital.”
The officer didn’t understand why Chu Ci suddenly brought this up. He replied, “Yes, I know.”
Chu Ci continued, “I was lying in bed, unable to move, and now, just a week later, my injury still isn’t healed. How could I possibly touch Nuo Wei? Do you want me dead in bed, perhaps?”
Suggesting a high-ranking male’s death was a serious accusation, and the officer’s eyes widened, hastily explaining, “Sir, I didn’t mean that!”
Chu Ci ignored him, asking further, “Besides, even if we haven’t done anything recently, how do you know we’re not close enough?”
The question seemed strange to the officer. He looked confused: “For males and females, isn’t intimacy just…?”
For a male and female zerg who hadn’t even slept together, how could they be considered intimate?
Chu Ci sneered, waving at his female monarch behind him: “Nuo Wei, come here.”
As the female monarch approached, Chu Ci suddenly reached out, grabbing Nuo Wei’s sash and yanking him toward him. He forced the female zerg to tilt closer, then, without warning, lowered his head and kissed Nuo Wei’s cool, thin lips right there in front of the military office’s door.
