Chapter – 06
Between Us
【A child who makes mistakes deserves to be taught a lesson.】
*
There were no blind spots in the surveillance of the isolation room. If he were to use power beyond his current limits now, it would bring a lot of trouble later on.
Before he was confident he could reach adulthood, Ely would not expose himself.
Nor did he believe that a place like the isolation room would go unnoticed by the insects. All he had to do now was wait—just endure, and it would be over.
Fortunately, the feminine insect seemed unwilling to let the Insect Mother die so easily. Just as Ely was about to reach his limit, the insect released its grip.
Without any time to brace himself, the Insect Mother crashed to the floor with a dull thud.
Ely protected his neck where it had been squeezed, gasping for fresh air as his complexion gradually returned to normal. But the life-and-death crisis had left him utterly weak; he could not stand.
The restroom was well soundproofed, and he could hear nothing from outside. Ely could not tell whether rescue had arrived at all.
These insects were acting so boldly—weren’t they afraid of getting caught?
“Commander, they’re here.” The door guard, who had remained silent all along, finally spoke.
“So slow? How pathetic.” The insect race shared a unified will, but among those of equal rank, none respected another. The feminine insect and the medical insect Tia held equal positions, though he was currently suspended from duty.
The feminine insect took out a small sphere and tossed it at Ely. The sphere bounced, instantly binding him perfectly. His two followers stood guard over this special insect prisoner.
“Unfortunately, I can’t kill you today. Make the most of your final use.”
Since he couldn’t kill him right away, the Insect Mother would not give this insolent insect a second chance.
The heavily fortified door of the restroom swung open, and Tia burst in with insectoid guards.
The original plan had not been arranged this way. At most, they had only intended to show the Insect Mother just how painful, terrifying, and incurable the spiritual frenzy caused by the previous Insect Mother had been for the insect race. Hain’s original plan had simply been to let Ely know how much harm the existence of an Insect Mother could bring to the race, and to make this new Insect Mother take on some sense of responsibility—to provide subsequent spiritual soothing to those who had suffered mental trauma from the previous Insect Mother.
They couldn’t just keep the Insect Mother fed without making him work. There was no such free ride in this world.
The change in plans came from this senior figure. Tia stared at the feminine insect, adopting a negotiating stance.
“Arles, what are you trying to do?”
Arles had once served as a commander under the Ninth Insect Mother. The frequent battlefield commands had exposed him to too much death, and the numbing slaughter had driven this once-brilliant commander into an incurable spiritual frenzy. After the successful operation to kill the Insect Mother, he voluntarily resigned. The military, appreciative of his contributions, preserved his original rank, changing his resignation to a temporary suspension. Later, Arles was confined to the isolation room due to his unmanageable spiritual frenzy.
Tia had met Arles a few times and had once heard of this senior’s illustrious military achievements. He never expected their next meeting to be over the kidnapping of the Insect Mother.
Arles had used a consultation opportunity to cover the sounds from the treatment room, swapped his identity with a medical insect, and conspired with several other sick insects to abduct the Insect Mother. This was clearly a premeditated operation. The legendary genius commander lived up to his reputation.
“I have only one request: have the Insect Mother perform a complete spiritual soothing on the insects in the isolation room—eradicate their spiritual frenzy entirely.”
Spiritual frenzy in the insect race was like a stubborn residual illness in the body—it would recur repeatedly, and no treatment could completely eliminate this deep-rooted affliction. Insects born with immense power often did not live even half their natural lifespan because of spiritual frenzy.
Most of the insects in the isolation room had lived through the rule of the Insect Mother a hundred years ago. They loathed the Insect Mother’s reign, yet their bodies succumbed to the incurable spiritual frenzy. In the prime of their lives, they had been locked away early in the isolation room, simply waiting for death.
No insect would be willing to die just like that.
Arles had been searching for a way to live—for himself, and for those insects who had suffered persecution alongside him under the Insect Mother.
Tia made a calm assessment: “No Insect Mother can completely eradicate spiritual frenzy in the insect race. Your demand is unrealistic.”
Throughout history, Insect Mothers had only provided regular soothing to quell the outbreaks.
Arles did not believe Tia’s judgment and offered a counterexample: “Theodore, the previous Insect Mother’s most beloved child, never once showed signs of spiritual frenzy. And yet, being closest to the Insect Mother, he should have suffered the greatest mental trauma—isn’t that right?”
The Legion Commander’s personal affairs were classified at the highest level, and Tia, not serving in the Third Legion, would never have access to such private information.
“The Legion Commander’s outbursts are promptly handled by colleagues who are psychic ability users—they wouldn’t let news leak to the outside. The information you have is incorrect.”
Arles wasn’t fooled. “I am a psychic ability user myself. Do you think I can’t tell Theodore’s true condition?” Though Theodore outranked him, Arles deeply despised this once-favored insect officer and showed no respect for him in his words. He had been observing Theodore for a long time, fearing that Theodore might regret the killing of the Insect Mother—and that was when he discovered this interesting fact.
Arles turned his suspicion toward the Insect Mother.
Tia tried to say something more.
But the young Insect Mother’s sudden interjection cut her off.
“I agree to your demand.” Ely’s voice was weak but his tone resolute.
“Ely—” Tia didn’t want him to overexert himself.
“It’s fine. I can do it.” Ely’s expression was obscured in the dim light. He looked up at Arles and said, “As long as you remove my restraints, I can begin the spiritual soothing immediately.”
Arles pulled out a syringe and calmly injected its contents into Ely’s body.
“Don’t lie to me, new Insect Mother. Otherwise, you truly won’t see tomorrow’s sun.” He didn’t explain what the drug did. “A specialized agent developed in secret by other races, designed specifically against Insect Mothers. And the antidote? I’m the only one holding it.” Arles was threatening him.
Hostile races had conducted many secret studies on Insect Mothers, hoping to use them as a breakthrough to bring down the insect race. They had developed numerous drugs—many of which had been discovered and destroyed by the insects. Tia could not determine what Arles had injected, nor could she know whether the Legion Commander’s abilities could neutralize the drug’s effects.
It seemed everyone wanted the Insect Mother dead—even among the insects who were supposedly bound to protect him with their lives, so many carried tools targeted against him. These thoughts flickered through Ely’s mind.
Ely: 【The Insect Mother and the insect race have always chosen each other mutually. Even if I truly gain power in the future and have the confidence to lead the insect race well, if they still choose self-development without an Insect Mother, then is there any point in my existence?】 He had pondered this question countless times but had never been able to answer it well.
【Perhaps you could have another identity. You already know that the Insect Mother has diverged from the evolutionary path of the insect race.】 Poli offered the suggestion. Perhaps from the moment the Primordial Mother devoured the gods, the Insect Mother had become something different from the insects.
【Is that so?】 Ely considered the possibility.
All restraints on him were removed. Ely stretched his body.
“Don’t try any of your little tricks,” Arles warned.
Ely had heard similar warnings countless times and was long immune to them. Ignoring the dropping pressure around Arles, Ely continued to do as he pleased.
“Let all the insects in the isolation room come out. To completely eliminate spiritual frenzy, I need to operate at close range.” Ely took the medical patches Tia had prepared and applied them over the ring of red marks on his neck. “If you’re worried, you can pick a few afflicted insects to test it out first.”
Arles accepted Ely’s suggestion and volunteered himself as the test subject. As a psychic ability user, he could temporarily suppress his own spiritual frenzy—and today was supposed to be his treatment day anyway.
“If something happens to me, the antidote will be gone too. Your body is undergoing unknown changes right now. You can feel it, can’t you?”
The words passed like wind past Ely’s ears, leaving no effect.
“Get ready—we’re starting.”
Arles boldly released his ability, letting his consciousness be overtaken by the spiritual frenzy. Ely slowly channeled his own spiritual energy, and a normal spiritual soothing began. The detection instruments scattered throughout the isolation room analyzed the process in real time.
Ely: 【Do you know how spiritual frenzy in the insect race originates?】
【Because evolution has been too fast,】 the consciousness entity analyzed in reply. 【The insects are the fastest-evolving species I have ever seen—and that is not entirely a good thing.】
Ely: 【Correct.】
Therefore, to completely eliminate spiritual frenzy was actually a simple matter—he just needed to revert them to the state they would have been in at their original evolutionary speed.
The young Insect Mother gradually withdrew the influences left by successive Insect Mothers. This was a process only an Insect Mother could understand, leaving no visible traces on the surface.
Ely: 【There should normally be a long gap between the reigns of two Insect Mothers, yet I was born just over a hundred years after the Ninth Insect Mother’s death. That is abnormal.】
The consciousness entity was always patient; it waited for Ely’s explanation.
【You perished from loneliness. The Ninth Insect Mother died of despair. You are somewhat alike.】
【He chose death for himself, after fulfilling his duties.】
【He left all his remaining power to me, catalyzing my birth. He hoped I would lead the insect race to better development.】
【So, I can grasp more of the evolutionary power of the race than other Insect Mothers could.】
【And I can just as easily withdraw the blessings of all the Insect Mothers.】
Ely absorbed the fruits of his predecessors’ labor, but he didn’t go too far—he allowed Arles to retain his evolved mimic form. However, Arles would no longer possess spiritual power; high-level evolutionary abilities like psychic powers would naturally vanish entirely.
He would become an ordinary insect from ancient history, completely free of spiritual frenzy.
【The Insect Mother’s tolerance for the insect race does not extend beyond her own life.】
Insect Mothers regarded the insects as their children and were always tolerant toward them. They allowed their children’s rebellion, gave them the fruits of their labor, and dedicated themselves fully to their children’s development. The Primordial Mother had inscribed the Insect Mother’s duty to the insect race into their heritage, and since then, every Insect Mother had been born to prepare for the race’s advancement.
Insect Mothers adhered to their duties, striving their entire lives for the insect race’s future. They no longer had any identity other than being Insect Mother—they would never allow their own biological offspring to become obstacles to their successors. They took up the torch and never let it go out.
But that did not mean the Insect Mother would tolerate unconditionally forever.
【The insect race and I are not equals.】
*
【Bearing humiliation in silence is not the Insect Mother’s way.】
