In the Zerg Race, Didn’t We Agree to Break the Engagement? Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Escape is Shameless

But when you have no other choice, it’s all you can do.

Sirius slept straight through until dawn.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already the following morning. He had been completely out of touch with Zerg society for a full twenty-four hours. Lex had already passed through a jump point and sent a message to check in, asking if there was anything he wanted him to bring back.

His light brain had automatically activated location tracking and vital signs monitoring. Above, his mental state displayed a green upward arrow; someone must have reported him missing, and the guard bugs had checked his current status.

Having slept his fill, Sirius’s brain was now very relaxed. Though it felt a bit heavy, he truly wasn’t overthinking anymore. He ordered the kitchen robot to bring breakfast.

It was truly a stroke of luck—in the absence of a male, a female who stayed overnight without explicit permission would be kicked out if they weren’t the Cijun, but a male staying in a female’s apartment would not.

Not only that, but any male could issue commands to the robot servants in the home of an unmarried female.

Well, this was considered a way to help males in emergency situations; if kidnapped, they could flee to any female’s home to seek protection.

Of course, it also facilitated quick matches for unmarried females.

The first time he learned of this was at a gathering. Sirius hadn’t mastered Zerg law yet and was listening to a male nearby recount the story of how he met his Cijun by walking into the wrong room.

Upon hearing it, he initially felt this was just letting males harass females in broad daylight, but the surrounding females looked on with faces full of envy. This instantly snapped Sirius to his senses; he realized clearly that the Zerg were different.

They had no morality, no sense of shame—mostly, they just enjoyed their instincts.

What an absurd policy, yet the Zerg race seemed entirely oblivious to it.

“Good morning, Sirius. You didn’t come in yesterday; were you sick?”

“Thank you for your concern. I’m fine, I was just handling some private matters and forgot to check my light brain.”

“Oh, thank the Zerg Mother. It’s good that you’re alright.”

…

Along the way, quite a few males greeted Sirius, and occasionally a few females would sneak over. Because the working hours for males and females were different to avoid males being harassed, males arrived late and left early. Thus, these females were all looking at him on the sly.

Whenever the robot guard teams discovered someone harassing a male during work hours, they would start running through the Research Institute, staging a lively chase.

Naturally, any female caught would be sent to a fringe planet to mine for a month. Although specialized robot bugs worked the mines and their presence was useless, as a punishment, it was just right.

That’s right—males can harass females, but females cannot harass males. It was said that back when everything relied on martial force, males were snatched away too often, leading to a deep-seated hatred for females. The fighting between the two sides damaged Zerg development, prompting the Mainframe to intervene and build laws. Males began participating in politics, and a balance began to form.

When reading Zerg history, Sirius always maintained an outsider’s perspective, which made the stories quite interesting.

Speaking of mining, however, Sirius actually thought of something.

Their institute primarily researched the evolution of ancient organisms and often went to other planets to collect fossils. If he remembered correctly…

Sirius picked up the notes on his desk and flipped back a few pages, then quickly walked over to the bookshelf behind him, opened the cabinet, and began rummaging through it.

Sure enough, he had run out. All the fossils collected last time had been proven unrelated to Zerg evolution. He needed to collect new stones.

It was strange, actually. Generally, all organisms have an evolutionary process or at least a civilizational development process, yet the Zerg had none.

It was as if they were born able to switch between their carapace form and human form, possessing a native civilization from the moment of birth. They had no unrecorded history, which was clearly illogical.

Thus, there was a school of thought in society claiming that insects and Zerg were two different species. They argued that Zerg didn’t evolve from insects but were directly created and taught by the Zerg Mother.

This theory was a bit like human creationism—Nüwa creating humans or God creating the world. That was essentially the gist of it.

Sounds absurd, right?

But because of the existence of the Mainframe—which was said to be left behind by the Zerg Mother and could link all Zerg light brains for mental communication—it added a sliver of credibility to the creationist argument. The Central Mainframe handled reproduction and marriage, while the War Mainframe handled expansion.

Yet for Sirius, who was once human, he remained a firm evolutionist. He always felt that bugs and humans had to be related.

If the Zerg Mother created them, why would they use the same script, the same language, the same appearance, and even have habits that didn’t differ in the slightest!

They even had a sun.

Unfortunately, there were too many colors for it to serve as a definitive basis for Sirius’s belief. Therefore, Sirius wanted to find evidence of evolution. That way, he could naturally treat this place as a human world and wouldn’t be an anomaly.

Fortunately, the institute he worked for was entirely composed of evolution supporters. They gathered together and established this Research Institute in hopes of finding proof of Zerg evolution.

The male’s office was on the top floor. Ancient trees that had grown for millennia brushed their branches against the window, the rustling of leaves clearly audible. Somewhere below, a female or male was out for a stroll with a child; the crisp laughter of a hatchling drifted up from downstairs.

Sirius opened the soundproofing curtains and picked up the planetary globe on his desk, his expression a bit dazed.

He had a way to escape all his troubles.

Find a sparsely populated fringe planet, dig up a few stones, and then come back to observe them slowly.

It wasn’t hard. Anyway, whenever he encountered situations like this before, that’s what he did.

If his mind was a mess, he would find a planet without any other Zerg. With only himself, he wouldn’t have to think about anything or make any decisions.

Julian’s urging and urgency, Lex’s devotion and temptation, human morality and Zerg nature… he wouldn’t have to deal with any of it.

He just needed to dig stones every day, and by the time he returned, everything would be better.

Thinking this, he looked at the planetary globe on the desk and flicked it with his finger.

A brilliant galaxy appeared before him. With a light tap, his current planet appeared. Using it as a reference point, he randomly selected a planet, took a photo, and sent it to Julian.

[I’m going to a nearby planet to collect minerals. For the coming period, we will keep in touch via the light brain.]

Julian replied very quickly. He seemed to be hovering nearby at all times; the moment Sirius sent the message, his status changed to “typing.”

[You scared me to death. It’s good that you’re alright.]

[Where did Julian do wrong? Lord Xiongzhun must punish Julian, but please don’t ignore me, okay~]

The female sent several emojis in a row, especially one showing him with reddened eyes. Whether it was sincere or not, Sirius had to admit his heart softened, and a smile touched his face.

[Did it rain last night? It doesn’t seem so. Why is there such a flood on your end? Do you need me to help you control the water?]

[Lord Xiongzhun! Julian was worried about you, I wasn’t thinking about that kind of thing.]

What kind of thing?

Sirius froze for a second before realizing what the other was thinking, leaving him caught between laughter and tears.

[What are you thinking about every day? I said you’re a crybaby—did the downstairs neighbors not complain?]

The status bar on the other side changed back and forth before finally showing a retracted message.

He retracted the message and then continued to reply as if nothing had happened: [Of course not. I only cry because I’m worried about Lord Xiongzhun.]

[Next time, please don’t lose contact for so long, okay? The guard bugs said I’m not the Cijun, so they wouldn’t tell me anything about you no matter what.]

The smile on Sirius’s face vanished instantly. He didn’t continue reading, but ripped the light brain off his wrist. The black watch landed heavily on the table with a thud.

The object was gone, but his mood couldn’t return to how it was.

The more you want to escape something, the more you are forced to see it. So escape doesn’t solve problems, but if he could solve the problem, why would he escape in the first place?

After a long while, Sirius calmed his emotions and slowly sat back in his chair, taking the light brain in his hand again. As expected, the female had asked that question:

[When you get back, can we submit the application?~]

[I really can’t wait.]

Sirius slowly exhaled, closed his eyes, and a line of text appeared in the chat box.

[I haven’t told him. The fleet won’t be back for at least a month. We’ll talk about it after he returns. If you can’t wait, then you can go find another male.]

Go find another male, so he wouldn’t have to struggle with it anymore.

How despicable.

He was the one who first chose the suitable Lex, then craved the young, passionate, and vibrant soul, allowing himself to fall this far. Yet now he was blaming everything on the female.

If Julian hadn’t come to seduce him, how would Sirius be with him? If Julian wasn’t so greedy in his demands, Sirius wouldn’t have been so possessed as to agree to his request.

A momentary lapse in judgment had led to this dilemma.

If only Julian would give up.

Sirius thought darkly—if only Julian gave up on his own, everything would return to the beginning. He wouldn’t have to struggle bitterly or be caught in a double bind. He could retreat into his safe zone with a clear conscience and lie to himself, saying he hadn’t been assimilated.

Unfortunately, the female didn’t agree.

He apologized with fear and trepidation, consoled him, prayed to him, and wept to him.

But Sirius felt no pleasure, only a chill throughout his body.

Even more despicable.

The male chose to escape once more. The planetary globe stopped spinning, and the randomly selected red planet sat quietly before him, appearing somewhat eerie against the deep blue backdrop of the star map.

Sirius reached out and tapped the planet without hesitation.

[Ding—Coordinates confirmed. Central Star S-rank male navigation permission application, identifying identity.]

[Identity confirmed successfully. Thank you for booking our company’s route. This time, we will provide you with the highest quality new starship model. Please confirm your schedule.]

[Warm reminder: The planet you have selected is relatively remote and is mostly used as a stopover. The Zerg personnel coming and going are complex. Please be sure to pay attention to your safety. We wish you a pleasant voyage!]

With highly developed technology and infinite resource plundering, the greatest advantage of the Zerg race was wealth.

Regardless of rank, any Zerg not currently serving a criminal sentence could travel to various planets at will for a minimal cost and depart at any time.

Before departing, Sirius cleared his messages without looking at them. Regardless of what had been said before, he sent Julian a direct message.

[Understood. I’ll message you when I arrive.]

In the end, he couldn’t find the heart to be cruel.