Chapter – 07
We Are
【All threats will eventually turn to nothing.】
*
Arles gradually regained his senses. Suddenly feeling something, he stared directly at Ely.
“What did you do to me?!” He could no longer feel the power within his body.
“This is what a complete spiritual soothing looks like. I’m simply acting according to your request,” Ely replied calmly. “What about the other insects? Do they need this kind of spiritual soothing too?”
The power of ordinary high-ranking insects was merely a drop in the bucket to the Insect Mother, but something was better than nothing. Ely seemed to sense a fluctuation in his own abilities and began to form some guesses about it.
Arles laughed maniacally: “The new Insect Mother doesn’t seem much different from the previous one. The previous Insect Mother destroyed the insects’ spirit—and you? You’ve directly crippled the insects’ spiritual domain. Neither of you is any good!”
“Quinn, Mendong—we’re beyond saving! Kill the Insect Mother!!” With that, Arles destroyed the antidote on his person. He had been telling the truth—he would not leave the Insect Mother any hope of survival.
The followers’ attack was forcibly halted as the insectoid guards seized the opportunity to detain them.
Tia stepped forward to check Ely’s physical condition.
The detection instruments could not identify the substance Arles had injected; they could only analyze from Ely’s vital signs that his bodily functions were steadily declining.
Based on her years of medical experience, Tia decisively administered a blocking agent, temporarily staving off the collapse of Ely’s body.
Some young insects who had been patrolling elsewhere sensed the disturbance and rushed over. Seeing Ely receiving treatment, they anxiously asked about his condition. Logan carefully approached Ely’s side, offering concerned greetings.
“It’s nothing serious—I’ll be fine soon.”
“I won’t be able to patrol with you all today. I’ll have to ask you to write up the reports and send them to me.” The worried expressions of the young insects froze momentarily. Writing reports was even more painful than doing homework. But the young Insect Mother lying on the narrow cot looked so frail—they didn’t want to let his expectations down.
“O-okay!”
Logan seized the opportunity to show his sincerity as a friend: “Don’t worry—I’ll cover the patrol area you were assigned too!” Ely usually assigned himself the largest and most troublesome area, so taking over his patrol duties was no simple task. The other young insects admired Logan’s determination.
“Thank you all for your help.” His pale complexion stirred their sympathy, and the young insects hurriedly insisted it was nothing.
Tia continued observing the data, cross-referencing it with known agents targeting Insect Mothers in the archives, trying to find a match. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something—and acted swiftly, stopping a sudden attack from close range.
Tia gave a long, deep look at the young insect who had just been expressing his friendship so warmly. Without asking why he had attacked, she gave a direct order: “Take him away. All unrelated insects, leave the isolation room immediately!”
The turn of events was sudden, shattering the earlier warmth.
Before the other young insects could even react, they were escorted out by the guards.
“Logan! Why did you attack Ely?!”
“He is the Insect Mother.” The voice that had been so boisterous just moments ago turned icy cold, spitting out those few words flatly.
“How could Ely be the Insect Mother?”
“Are you mistaken?”
“I did hear someone around here say something about an Insect Mother…”
“Isn’t the Insect Mother supposed to be locked away?”
A few Zerglings wanted to look back at Elai one more time, but were stopped by the guards. The sound of dissenting voices faded as they walked away.
The atmosphere in the lounge was stiff, with no Zerg making a sound.
The young Zerg Mother’s beautiful red eyes were dim, trapped in an indescribable silence.
Tia tried to divert Elai’s attention, mixing potions according to the test results while asking the pitiful young boy: “How did you calm Alex’s mental frenzy? He looked absolutely furious.”
Elai cooperatively bared his neck, his voice muffled: “The complete mental soothing method I know would make his mental domain disappear.” He avoided explaining the specific operational principles.
Tia didn’t press further—she knew the Zerg Mother would have her own special methods, and wasn’t shocked.
Vial after vial of injections were administered into Elai’s body. Seeing the test data gradually return to normal, Tia confidently left Elai in the lounge to rest. She had to continue treating the Zerg who had suffered mental frenzy in the isolation cells.
Of course, Tia didn’t forget to keep the restraint collar on Elai.
She instructed the smart butler to bring in snacks, drinks, and entertainment devices, then left the lounge to work. The guards disappeared as well, leaving the lounge silent, with only Elai and the monitoring equipment.
Elai: [Restore my body to normal.]
The imperious tone didn’t anger Poli. He包容ly and peacefully eradicated the drug’s effects for Elai.
Feeling the dissolving organic power in his body being curbed, Elai let out a long breath. Alex’s potion was quite effective—without an antidote, it would indeed cause trouble for a Zerg Mother with a still-weak juvenile constitution. Fortunately, Poli, this being who claimed to be a god, had some ability and could help Elai flush out the various drug effects from his system.
[Keep the suppression factors?]
[No. Just fabricate the data during testing.]
Data could be fabricated, but bodily changes couldn’t. What was the Zerg Mother gambling on?
Poli speculated that Elai might have been swayed somewhat by His earlier words, and looked forward to such a development.
Elai idly tapped the game controls on his terminal: [Will the Zerg’s attitude of disgust toward the Zerg Mother ever change?]
[Only through personal observation can you find the answer.] Poli guided as gently as always.
The Zerg Mothers were one and the same. Although Elai didn’t know why his predecessor had been rejected by the Zerg, allowing their hatred of the Zerg Mother to carry over to him, he wouldn’t transfer the suffering he endured onto his predecessor. The Zerg Mother couldn’t possibly be wrong—only the Zerg could be wrong. If showing weakness couldn’t bring about change in the Zerg, Elai wouldn’t mind resorting to some forceful measures.
The Zerg youth who had gotten along well with him for a time wouldn’t let go of their hatred for the Zerg Mother just because of his harmless behavior. Those who interacted with him long-term would prevent him from growing. Those he encountered by chance would exploit, threaten, and then ruthlessly kill him. So what about the larger Zerg population? Would they be willing to support the new Zerg Mother?
Elai felt lost, yet knew he had to observe the Zerg carefully before making any decisions.
Hai carefully examined Elai with his psychic ability, confirming there was nothing strange left on him before beginning his interrogation.
“Did you know that without Tia’s timely treatment, you would have actually died?”
“…No, I didn’t.” He wouldn’t die so easily.
“You investigated those ‘friends’ of yours—why did you keep in contact with dangerous Zerg?” With Hai backing him, Elai could know a thing or two about those friends’ backgrounds. Logan’s elder brother had died following the previous Zerg Mother, and Logan was a hatchling born later to his parents. On the surface, this cheerful Zerg youth’s family wasn’t happy—his parents had been sent to isolation cells early on due to mental frenzy, and the only news that ever came back was of their deaths.
Logan hated and loathed the Zerg Mother—this was perfectly understandable behavior.
Elai knew he was an unstable presence, yet insisted on staying in contact with him—truly foolish. Hai mercilessly judged in his mind.
Elai was somewhat silent, turning his head to the corner before answering listlessly: “There’s no Zerg who doesn’t hate the Zerg Mother. As long as I’m not found out, they can be companions.”
“It was just an accident.” It wasn’t an accident—Elai had actually already planned out scenarios for revealing his Zerg Mother identity to his friends; it just happened to be discovered ahead of time.
Even young Zerg who hadn’t experienced the previous Zerg Mother’s rule would still grow up soaking in hatred for the Zerg Mother. Were there any Zerg families that hadn’t suffered persecution under the Zerg Mother? Wasn’t disliking the Zerg Mother just a matter of course? Hai knew the Zerg’s views on the Zerg Mother and didn’t approve of Elai making friends this way.
He offered a foolish suggestion: “Why not let them know you’re the Zerg Mother, and then openly use your charm to make them willing to be your friends?” After speaking, Hai himself couldn’t help but want to wake himself up—how had he developed such a滤镜 for the Zerg Mother, thinking Elai’s docility could override the Zerg’s collective disgust? His head must be muddled.
Hai promptly corrected himself: “No friends, no problem. Powerful Zerg always walk alone.” Several army commanders were solitary, with no friends, and they were doing just fine.
“I’ll die.”
Without the irrigation of Zerg love, the Zerg Mother’s early death seemed an inevitable conclusion. That’s how it looked from Hai and the others’ perspective.
So making friends while hiding his identity was a way to save himself?
The black-haired Zerg couldn’t bring himself to voice reproachful words. Instead, he crouched down, turned Elai’s head to face him, and looked seriously into the young Zerg Mother’s eyes with his emerald-like gaze, giving him a promise: “As long as you stay obedient, I won’t let you die.”
Elai was silent.
“I also won’t追究 how you disabled Alex. As long as you don’t crave the lofty status of past Zerg Mothers, I’ll let you live peacefully.”
This was an open and honest conversation—Hai was laying out the Zerg’s needs and what he could do for Elai.
Hai didn’t force Elai to respond.
He merely noted today’s date and, as usual, injected growth suppression factors into Elai’s body. The effects of suppression factors wouldn’t fade with time, but the high-ranking Zerg weren’t reassured, so they would repeatedly increase the dosage, until the Zerg Mother completely lost the ability to grow.
The Zerg Mother could survive—as a Zerg youth, until death.
Hai sent the data on the suppression factors’ effects in Elai’s body to the other army commanders, casually rubbed the golden hair under his palm, then packed up and left for work. Leaving Elai alone to think.
[Why must the Zerg Mother be required to have no ambition?]
[Every previous Zerg Mother led the Zerg’s rapid development through ambition and desire.]
[A Zerg Mother without ambition is no different from an ordinary Zerg.]
[Then the inheritance of the Zerg Mother would be useless, and my very existence would be a joke.]
He was just venting, not expecting Poli to respond, and immediately switched topics: [Flush out the drug effects.]
The mild-tempered deity would包容 this young Zerg Mother, the only being in the universe who could communicate with Him, treating Elai the same way He had treated the ancient Zerg—with complete indulgence.
He murmured softly in His heart: After all, we are truly kindred spirits.
*
[My successor, your identity is not limited to being the Zerg Mother.]
