APUTFFZG Chapter 16

Translator: Deyonna

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Ye Er struggled to quiet the pounding in his chest and patted Xi Ze's arm. "All right, let go. I'll go get the inhibitor."

"...Not doing it?"

The female zerg panted softly, wearing an earnest yet puzzled expression.

He leaned forward tentatively and carefully took hold of the male zerg's pant leg with his fingers. As he asked, his lips parted slightly, revealing the soft, vulnerable inside of his mouth.

Ye Er's breath hitched.

He watched, dazed, as the female zerg bit onto his waistband. He snapped back to his senses before things could escalate into R-18 territory and stopped the female zerg's face with his hand. "Wait, wait, wait..."

He knew Xi Ze had already decided to accept him, and he had expected his attitude to change and soften.

But what he hadn't expected was how... straightforward it would be. It was an arrow straight to the heart, one he couldn't guard against.

It had to be said that the female zerg looked quite delectable at that moment.

The tea's bitter fragrance poured out like a winding underground river. Beneath it, he gave off the ripe, translucent sweetness of a firm-skinned peach, ready to burst with juice at the slightest pressure.

His damp hair was swept back, revealing a handsome, upright face, flushed and glistening with moisture. His sharp golden eyes looked warm, soft, and hazy...

He even used a solemn, soldierly voice to ask, quite frankly, why he wouldn't do it.

This is too... too cute!!

Ye Er took one deep breath after another, barely able to resist stepping forward to take a bite and find out what this piece of candy, with its rich bitter-tea flavor, really tasted like.

But his gaze fell on the wounds covering the female zerg's body. That body was an arrow at the end of its flight, unable to bear any more torment.

"A patient whose wounds haven't healed has no business going into heat." Ye Er patted his head. "Wait here. I'll have 015 come in and give you the inhibitor."

Pheromones were like industrial-strength glue, binding male and female zergs together. The intertwined scents of bitter tea and sweet caramel set off an indescribable, scorching feeling in his chest that was hard to shake.

Ye Er suspected that if he stayed in the bathroom any longer, he would end up sticking to the female zerg, unable to tear himself away.

He held his breath and fled the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and trapping the bitter tea fragrance inside.

After Xi Ze's leisurely bath, 015 was topped up and ready for this difficult task.

Ye Er sat on the sofa, slowly collecting his thoughts.

He hadn't lost control of his pheromones. At most, they had been coaxed out of him just now, and after resting a while, the heat quickly subsided.

After some thought, he woke his terminal and called Hughes.

"Can a person control their own pheromone release?"

On the screen, Hughes looked somewhat surprised. "That's a good sign. It proves his body is gradually recovering its functions, but normally it shouldn't happen this quickly."

"The hormonal imbalance in his body is still very serious. Sudden heat will keep happening, and it has to be taken seriously..."

A long string of technical jargon followed. Ye Er understood only part of it, but he gathered that as long as he soothed him sensibly and gave him inhibitors, there wouldn't be any major problems.

After the call ended, he got up and went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water. He had only taken a few sips when he heard the bathroom door open behind him.

Then came the sound of rolling wheels, and finally the faint sound of the female zerg being set down on the sofa.

Ye Er stared at the water swaying at the bottom of the glass. His rationality, which pheromones and rising steam had overturned, regained the upper hand, though he belatedly noticed that the tips of his ears were still burning hot.

"All done!"

015 suddenly appeared behind the kitchen door and eyed Ye Er's trembling figure doubtfully. "What are you doing?"

"Cough..." Ye Er covered his mouth with his fist and coughed a few times to hide his embarrassment.

"It's nothing. I'll go out and take a look. You keep making breakfast."

After hesitating at the door for a while, he finally pushed it open and stepped into the living room.

Xi Ze sat on the sofa with one elbow on his knee, propping up his forehead, and his other forearm resting casually on his thigh. Hearing the sound, he lifted his head and made eye contact with Ye Er.

He wore only a pair of loose pajama pants. The flush on his upper body hadn't yet receded. He furrowed his brows, suppressing the dizziness and stabbing pain in his head.

"Male Lord."

He whispered it softly, clearly much smoother this time, with damp, tousled hair hanging between his eyebrows, looking particularly obedient.

"...Mm."

Ye Er coughed awkwardly and sat down at the other end of the sofa. "Are you feeling better? How's the inhibitor working?"

"Not bad..."

Xi Ze's voice was hoarse from the burning, his words coming out in fits, but he was remarkably candid about what his body felt.

"My glands are still burning hot, but the pheromones have stopped leaking... Raising the inhibitor concentration by two percent should be about right."

What a precise, rigorous answer. Ye Er clicked his tongue softly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the female zerg's still bright red ears and the fingers tightening on his knee, and he suddenly realized he wasn't the only one feeling uneasy.

The realization instantly calmed Ye Er.

He even grew a little mischievous, tilting his head toward Xi Ze and laughing lightly. "Really? You still smell very fragrant right now."

Feeling the light breath on his neck, Xi Ze's jaw suddenly tightened.

He hesitated for a moment, his Adam's apple bobbing, before whispering, "Male Lord... you smell very sweet too."

"Like melted caramel."

Thump.

Ye Er's eyelashes fluttered.

His heart thumped against his chest, speeding up the flow of his blood.

This is too cute.

For the second time today, he thought to himself.

015 was in the kitchen making breakfast.

While he waited, Ye Er opened his terminal and browsed the news.

Official news from the Aitar Galaxy dominated the homepage. He skimmed past a series of political maneuvering results* and turned to the war reports from nearby, which took up a small box.

*The product of the maneuvering among all the politicians involved

[The Desa Military Campaign, which lasted half a month, finally ended today. Compared with the Lamier Military Campaign, this war was smaller in scale and caused fewer casualties...]

[Under the leadership of newly appointed Imperial General Antoine Edreck, the campaign ended in victory. The win is seen as a step toward a more peaceful, brighter future for the Empire...]

In just a few hundred words, the report gave only a brief account of the fighting and put more emphasis on the hottest name of the past two years—

"The Empire has a new general. Did you know?"

Ye Er skimmed the report and said casually, "His name is Antoine Edreck."

Antoine Edreck.

Xi Ze's pupils contracted, and his hand on the table suddenly clenched, making the heavy solid-wood table creak as his hand struck it.

"What's wrong?"

Ye Er was startled and looked over in confusion.

Almost instantly, Xi Ze lowered his eyes, hiding the strange emotion. "...It's nothing."

Ye Er gave him a strange look, then suddenly remembered something. "Which campaign were you injured in?"

Xi Ze said in a low voice, "...The Lamier Military Campaign."

Not the recent one. Of course, the timing doesn't match.

Ye Er thought for a moment and asked casually, "Do you hold a military rank?"

"Major."

015 brought out breakfast, interrupting their conversation. Ye Er took a few bites of the fried eggs and remembered a question that had been lingering at the back of his mind.

"You... Why did you call me Male Lord of your own accord?"

Ye Er chose his words carefully.

Not long ago, Xi Ze had been extremely resistant. Nothing major had happened since, yet the female zerg had changed his attitude of his own accord, which was very strange.

"Not that I'm unhappy about it, but there must be a reason, right?"

Ye Er set down his chopsticks, looked at the female zerg, and smiled as he spoke.

He knew he had no special charm, aside from the buff of being a male zerg. That buff might even have counted against him with Xi Ze, but Xi Ze had managed to overcome the difficulty and reach a harmonious state with him.

"We've only been together for less than two days. I thought you wouldn't trust me so easily, and besides... I'm a male zerg, aren't I?"

Xi Ze looked a little dazed, and his hands slowly stilled.

To be precise, he hadn't thought about the question.

He used to be an excellent spy, very good at picking up subtle traces and drawing the right conclusions.

But sometimes things happened with such breathtaking speed that they appeared before his eyes like lightning. In those moments of sudden clarity, he could either keep far away from it or reach out and seize it, whatever the cost.

His actions now didn't seem much different from what he used to despise.

But that wasn't the case.

He had already escaped that desperate situation, and he wasn't fawning just to survive in degradation. He did what he did because he wanted to.

When the road ahead seemed bleak, one should seize every opportunity and walk forward without fear. It might not be a dead end after all.

After a moment of silence, Xi Ze lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice, "I'm following what my heart tells me."

Ye Er furrowed his brows in confusion.

But after gazing at the calm profile of the female zerg for a while, he suddenly understood what he was thinking.

"You..."

Ye Er's pupils contracted slightly, and his voice came out unusually harsh. Then the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of the inside of his own wrist.

The sleeve slid up his slender wrist, revealing a tangle of thin, crisscrossing scars on the pale skin, some deep, some shallow, all red.

His heart suddenly trembled, and he instinctively pulled his sleeve down to cover it.

A shadow lurking in the darkness suddenly extended its thorns, stabbing between his brows and pouring corrosive venom into his heart, sending waves of numbness and sharp pain.

"Don't pin your hopes on me, anyway."

He blurted it out, his tone urgent and cold.

After a moment of silence, he belatedly realized his reaction had been excessive. Ye Er frowned and tried to make amends, though his tone came out gruff.

"Anyway, I'm just an unremarkable D-level male zerg. I can't promise I'll live up to your expectations."

Xi Ze covered his lips with the hand holding his chopsticks, cleared his throat softly, and said, "Don't feel burdened. I never had many expectations of you to begin with."

"......?!"

Ye Er's eyes widened. He whipped his head around to look at him, and only then, seeing the slightly curved, smiling eyes, realized he was being teased.

Deflated for a moment, he grudgingly stuffed the rest of the fried egg into his mouth.

He decided to ignore this female zerg for the rest of the morning and gulped down the milk 015 cheerfully handed him.

After breakfast, to help 015 save some power, Ye Er helped clean up a few of the dishes and utensils.

But the moment he turned on the faucet, along with the sound of the water came a cry of alarm from 015—

"Your hand! How did you get hurt?"

Since 015 would never make a fuss over his old scars, Ye Er listlessly lowered his head, and only then did he notice several long, thin wounds across the back of his left hand.

The wounds were fresh, and their surfaces were already inflamed from the water. The edges looked slightly white, which gave them a rather frightening appearance.

The sight gave him a sense of déjà vu, and his vision suddenly wavered. A sharp ringing in his ears caught him off guard, and his pupils shrank abruptly.

A sharp pain exploded at the back of his head, as if long nails had hold of his hair, and he couldn't break free. He could only struggle as he was pressed down into the sink in front of him—

[So hungry? Sneaking into the cafeteria to steal food?! What a fine rat that bitch of a mother raised! Eat, eat more! All this swill* is for you...!]

*Kitchen swill for pigs; the leftover water from washing rice

[Splash... Bang! Gurgle... Ugh! Gurgle... Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!]

A crushing sense of suffocation filled his mouth and nose, and dark spots clouded his vision. Ye Er stood frozen, staring blankly as water sprayed from the faucet. A deep numbness had taken over most of his body.

"What's wrong? The water's about to overflow!"

015's voice suddenly cut through the chaotic buzzing like a needle piercing a vacuum, and air rushed in, as if a new life had been born.

Ye Er slowly shook his head, reached out to turn off the faucet, and waited silently for his body's reaction to pass.

The stinging pain on the back of his hand reached his brain the moment he noticed the wounds. He knitted his brows and picked up a nearby towel to dry his hands.

015 let out a sharp buzz. "Put down that cleaning rag. It's very dirty! Don't let it touch the wound!"

In the end, 015 forcibly shoved Ye Er out of the kitchen. He had recently become very proficient at disinfecting and bandaging from helping Xi Ze change his dressings, so 015 wasn't worried about that part, but he was absolutely not allowed to touch water.

Ye Er hissed in pain as the disinfectant touched his wound. He flung his hand in annoyance, accidentally knocking the bottle over and spilling the disinfectant on the floor with a thud.

"Be careful."

Xi Ze, sitting beside him, spoke up to remind him. Remembering his decision to ignore Xi Ze that morning, Ye Er abruptly slid off his chair without a word.

Creak.

He bent down to pick up the bottle, but a hand reached out from the side and touched the wound on the back of his hand. The next moment, his whole hand was caught firmly in a palm.

Xi Ze suddenly lowered his head.

When a warm, soft touch landed on the back of his hand, Ye Er barely reacted.

The next second, something even softer touched the wound, bringing a slight itch.

"What..." are you doing?

Ye Er's eyes widened. He was too shocked to pull his hand away right away.

But the pain where he'd been kissed dulled, and his nameless anger was put out by a sweet, plentiful rain. The slight itch on the wound, however, intensified, burrowing deeper into his flesh.

Xi Ze held his injured hand, his pure white eyelashes trembling slightly. His warm lips pressed lightly against the wound, like a knight of old swearing fealty.

After a while, Xi Ze raised his eyes and looked at the male zerg, his voice hoarse. "Male Lord, don't be angry."

The moment Ye Er's eyes met those molten gold eyes, he suddenly thought that paying attention to Xi Ze would be much better.

☰