APUTFFZG Chapter 38.1

Translator: Deyonna

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After washing up, the male zerg said goodnight as usual, yawned, and went back to his room to sleep. Before that, he had walked to the corner and plugged in 015, putting it into standby mode.

The lights in the living room were off, leaving only a dim blur.

Anyone still awake would have noticed that the female zerg was sitting upright on the sofa, not sleeping.

An invisible mental power barrier had been raised, shutting out all sound.

Xi Ze woke the terminal screen, and after a series of complex operations, a horizontal frame appeared on the floating display.

After he entered a string of keys, the small terminal screen instantly connected to another terminal.

Xi Ze's golden eyes narrowed slightly, and the cold set of his brows and eyes turned serious as he let out a low laugh.

"Good evening, Adjutant Bai."

At that moment, the shadows and glories of the past returned to his scarred body, filling it with blood and bone and forming a unique backbone, radiating like the sharp spearhead of the Empire's former glory.

---

On a desolate, backward garbage planet light-years away,

a simple wooden cabin stood on top of an abandoned hill. Inside, a military female stood with his back straight.

The terminal sat respectfully on the table. He stood at the table, looking down at it, worn but incredibly resolute and determined.

At the familiar voice, an excited sparkle lit up the female zerg's ashen face, and he immediately answered loudly—

"Good evening! General!"

This was Adjutant Bai Lang of the First Legion.

The First Legion had once been at the top of the Empire's four great legions.

It was rumored that the general of the First Legion trained his soldiers like livestock. Their training was more grueling than any other legion could imagine.

That especially harsh training had also given the First Legion the lowest casualty rate after each war, and sometimes even zero casualties.

The military females of the First Legion generally had no distinguished backgrounds. All of them had been picked by the general, and many were commoner military females who had been oppressed by class struggles.

Their gratitude for being recognized* was heavier than Mount Tai.**

*Literally "the kindness of recognizing someone's worth and employing him"

**An expression for something extremely serious

Having followed the general through military campaigns for decades, each military female's loyalty ran extraordinarily high. Some were even close confidants who would follow him into rebellion at a single command.

At that time, the First Legion had been like an ironclad unit, the army the masses trusted most, the sharpest blade of the Empire, a thick thigh friendly forces could cling to, and a living king of hell that struck fear into enemy forces.

But there had been no zerg like Antoine Edreck among them.

Antoine had originally been a military female of the Fourth Legion. After intense conflicts over power between the Third and Fourth Legions, it was unclear what had gotten into his head, but he had unexpectedly led a portion of the military females to form a "Fifth Legion," intending to break away from the long-standing structure and rise directly to become a fifth general.

But this little trick seemed utterly foolish to the seasoned veterans. They didn't even know whether to laugh or cry. Once they had worked out their interests, the Third and Fourth Legions quickly reconciled and became good comrades in arms again, fighting side by side.

By then, this "Fifth Legion" had become exceptionally awkward, essentially a blatant eyesore.

After being tossed back and forth as a joke and even facing a military tribunal, they were rescued when an old marshal who had retired from the Empire, who was also the general's teacher, came to ask the general to help Antoine.

Not long after, this "Fifth Legion" became an auxiliary squad of the First Legion.

As for what happened afterward, everyone knew it was worth spitting and cursing over, like saying a single mouse dropping spoiled a whole pot of congee*.

*A complete mess

Thinking of those disgusting guys, Bai Lang could hardly contain the rage boiling in his chest.

If they hadn't taken in that pack of bastards back then, the general might already have become a marshal, and the First Legion might still be doing well.

In the five years after the general's sacrifice, the First Legion had almost fallen apart. Some had died, some had been injured, and some had been reassigned. The few who remained never stopped calling for the truth during those five years.

When he had received a communication from the general not long ago, Bai Lang had hardly believed his eyes.

His hands had shaken as he connected the call, and the incredibly familiar voice that came through had instantly shattered his composure. Overwhelmed with joy, he had sobbed uncontrollably and nearly gone mad with excitement. He had pinched his thigh until it turned purple just to convince himself it wasn't a dream.

Their general had come back alive.

Recently, the general had arranged for a small team to infiltrate the exchange, capture several working zergs, and obtain video footage from their terminals.

That was when they learned what kind of life their general had endured over those five years: gritting his teeth and enduring humiliation, clawing his way out of that hellish pit*.

*A nest of devils

And the address those videos had been sent to? Antoine's private email, belonging to a zerg worse than a pig or a dog!

Five years. A full five years of torture!

Bai Lang's expression turned incredibly sinister, and he could barely hold back the boiling intent to kill. He could only take deep breaths to keep his reason.

Fortunately, the general had escaped and was beginning to prepare for a counterattack. When the truth came out, that bastard would be waiting to be flayed, his bones pulled and ground to dregs by them and the angry masses!

But Xi Ze didn't give him much time to be enraged and went straight to the point. "Report on this week's developments."

After gathering information over this period, Xi Ze already had a grasp of the current situation in the Empire. On the surface it seemed harmonious, but in his eyes it was still riddled with flaws*, even more rotten and crumbling than five years ago.

*Literally "one hundred loopholes" (idiom)

But to break through it effortlessly and win an overwhelming victory would still take careful planning.

"We've secretly contacted the general of the Second Legion... Most of the scattered troops have gathered now... Some of the pawns the royal family planted on various fringe planets have been removed..."

Bai Lang straightened his back and stood in standard military posture. Though he was in a tattered wooden hut, it felt as if he were still in the joint command room five years ago, reporting the latest battle situation to the general.

When he finished his report, he paused and remembered something else.

"The driver you asked us to investigate does have problems. He's been dealt with."

After listening to the progress report, Xi Ze frowned in thought for a moment, then assigned a few tasks in brief.

"That should be all. Summarize your findings and report to me every three days."

"Yes!"

Even though the general's figure wasn't before him, Bai Lang still saluted in standard military fashion and answered loudly.

As the familiar response of those years echoed in his ears, Xi Ze's expression softened for a moment. "You've worked hard."

Bai Lang felt his eyes heat up and nearly burst into tears.

The perseverance of those five years had finally been answered, and that was enough.

He gritted his teeth, his voice already hoarse. "It wasn't hard work! Easing the general's worries and difficulties is my duty and honor!"

Soon after, the call ended.

After he returned the terminal to its original state, Xi Ze took down the mental power barrier, and the tranquil night seeped back in.

He sat on the sofa blankly for a while, then suddenly reached up to touch the collar around his neck.

His fingertips caught on the edge of the collar and probed the narrow gap, but the collar's sharp edge soon scraped his neck and drew blood.

Xi Ze took his hand away and pinched his slightly weary brow. He lifted the quilt and lay down beneath it.

---

Splash...

Ye Er scooped up a handful of cold water that ran through his fingers and splashed it on his face. The chill jolted him awake, and all remnants of sleepiness vanished instantly.

Suddenly he knitted his brow, brushed aside his bangs to bare his forehead, and leaned close to the mirror for a better look.

Recently, he had felt an itch at his temples, as if something were wriggling and drilling out from inside, giving off a cold, intense sense of foreignness that was both chilling and nauseating.

Could it really be that he was turning into a zerg?

Ye Er stared blankly for a moment.

Images suddenly flashed through his mind of the military females he had seen in the hospital corridor, who had transformed and grown appendages because of their injuries.

And Xi Ze... he forgot now and then that they weren't the same kind of being, the same race. After all, they looked alike on the outside.

But every time Xi Ze took off his top, revealing the stunning zerg patterns coiled around his lower abdomen and spine and the soft wing sheaths on his back that were meant to house his wings, that intense sense of strangeness would resurface.

A small fear lay hidden at the nerve endings, like a poisonous scorpion's stinger that would prick him now and then, reminding him to stay vigilant at all times—

Don't show any flaws. Don't raise suspicion. Don't let "them" find out... the true face beneath the mask.

He stared blankly at his reflection. His figure stood still.

After a long while, he suddenly stretched out a hand, and his damp fingertips drew a long line across the neck in the mirror.

Snap.

......

---

Ye Er hadn't expected to see a scene like this.

When he stepped into the living room, 015 was arranging flowers on the dining table, and faint sounds came from the kitchen. He sensed something and turned his head—

The female zerg stood tall and straight, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, holding a spatula and frying a sizzling steak. His tall frame made the already small kitchen seem even more cramped.

But what stunned him were the two thin lines tightly wrapped around his waist, delicate and pink, tied in a bow at the end, striking against his black tank top.

What is... that?

The tempting aroma of meat wafted out, and the sizzle of oil was enough to make anyone imagine how good it was.

Xi Ze neatly scooped it onto a plate, added the pre-cut side dishes, and turned around.

A hint of low laughter colored his voice. "Male Lord, good morning."

Ye Er's eyes slowly widened.

Xi Ze was wearing a pink apron.

The apron was outdated and a bit wrinkled, made of very cheap pink fabric, with a cartoon pig pocket sewn on and childish lace all around.

It might have been given away in a supermarket promotion. After buying it, someone had tossed it in a corner. 015 had never worn it, and it was unknown where the female zerg had dug it up.

But that wasn't the main point.

The apron was particularly small. The female zerg's full, plump, elastic chest muscles stretched the fabric tight, and the thin straps around his neck were pulled to their limit, as if they would snap at any moment.

And he didn't know why Xi Ze insisted so much on tying it perfectly despite how constricting it was. The ties cinched his slender waist tight, making his buttocks look even more prominent and rounded.

It was easy to imagine a few cooking cover-ups that were really about the apron and the kitchen being used for other activities, such as... intimate play.

☰