APUTFFZG Chapter 38.2

Translator: Deyonna

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"You." Ye Er looked even more at a loss, stumbling over his words. "There's no need, uh, to be like this..."

He hesitated and fell silent.

A flicker of confusion crossed Xi Ze's face as he studied Ye Er's expression for a moment. With some unease, he asked softly, "Male Lord, what's wrong?"

"Apron."

Ye Er pinched the bridge of his nose and finally found his tongue. "Why are you suddenly wearing an apron?"

Xi Ze half understood and looked down at the apron he was wearing, still puzzled. "What's wrong with the apron?"

"It just... doesn't seem to fit well."

"It doesn't matter."

Xi Ze brushed it off, and a hint of a smile appeared in his eyes. "I learned a new dish. Would you like to try it?"

At those words, Ye Er slowly shifted his attention away from the apron, and then paused.

It felt... very strange.

Circumstances had forced them to live together, share meals, watch TV, chat, say good morning and good night, and even engage in some overly intimate acts. Even so, Ye Er had never thought of Xi Ze as one of his own kind.

But that apron looked strangely familiar, familiar enough to stir some distant, hazy memories.

There seemed to have been winter mornings when he sat on a small stool with his hands tucked into his pockets, drowsily waiting for his grandmother to make breakfast before she took him to the central primary school two kilometers away.

In the shabby kitchen, a small figure bustled about under a faint, warm light. He could see her pink apron clearly, with a faded cartoon pig printed on it.

Little Ye Er grew sleepier and sleepier as he watched, and just as he was about to doze off, a congee spoon suddenly hit his head and his eyes flew wide. "!!"

"Hurry up and eat! Finish so you can go to school."

A vague silhouette, backlit by the light, set a bowl of plain white congee in front of him. Perhaps because he was so overwhelmingly drowsy, little Ye Er couldn't see his grandmother's face clearly, no matter how hard he tried to open his eyes.

It was one of the few cherished memories he had.

Ye Er's gaze drifted aimlessly from the pink apron to the female zerg's figure. Unlike his dim memory, the scene before him was clearer and brighter, yet just as warm.

It felt like a big ball of cotton candy had been stuffed into his chest, leaving his heart sweet and fluffy.

The deep chasm seemed to vanish. It felt like an ordinary morning: waking up, having breakfast, chatting casually with a close friend.

This feeling is so good. It's like being in a dream.

A beautiful dream I don't want to wake up from.

Xi Ze watched Ye Er's expression gradually soften until his lips finally curled into a smile.

"I'm looking forward to it."

But just as Xi Ze finished frying the second plate of breakfast, Ye Er, who had been staring at him for a long time, suddenly stood up. The soft corners of his eyes narrowed slightly, with a hint of aggression.

"But your apron is too tight. Isn't it uncomfortable?"

"Mm... it's okay?"

Xi Ze met Ye Er's gaze and pursed his lips, and without thinking he reached up to tug at the string around his neck. But the strap was stretched taut, so when he tugged, the plump areas trembled.

The bow had gone crooked.

Ye Er looked at the pink bow that had slipped to the side of Xi Ze's hips, his gaze darkening slightly as his Adam's apple bobbed.

He meant to point it out, but without realizing it he found himself leaning close and reaching toward the apron.

"...Male Lord?"

Xi Ze's voice was slightly hoarse, and his expression looked a little unnatural, yet he didn't push away the hand that touched his waist.

With the female zerg's silent indulgence, Ye Er's finger hooked onto the delicate strap and slowly pulled the bow back behind his waist. His fingertip brushed the sensitive dip of Xi Ze's waist, drawing a subtle shiver.

The bow was straight again, but then that hand slid up and tugged loose the slipknot at his neck, as if lifting the lid of a box filled with cotton so its fluffy, soft contents spilled over, drawing a longing gaze.

Ye Er's breath was very light, and his voice even lighter. "It's too tight, isn't it?"

Xi Ze looked into the male zerg's beautiful eyes and his mouth suddenly went dry. The fabric on his chest, soaked with fine sweat, grew even damper.

He didn't answer. He only breathed more heavily, the rise and fall of his chest more pronounced.

Ye Er suddenly lowered his head, leaned in, and sniffed at the female zerg. "You smell so good."

He smelled that unique bitter scent again.

It rose from the female zerg's body like dense water vapor lifting off the sea, gathering into cumulonimbus clouds and waiting for the moment they would saturate and overflow.

By common sense, actively releasing pheromones in front of a male zerg was a form of courtship, a silent seduction both parties understood.

But these pheromones had escaped uncontrollably. The male zerg before him had only sniffed gently and done nothing beyond loosening the knot, showing great politeness and restraint.

Xi Ze was backed up against the hard, cold countertop, his lower back pressed to it. After a moment of swallowing hard, he said hoarsely, "Male Lord, breakfast will get cold..."

Ye Er's fingers were still tugging at the strap, leaving a deep indentation in the full muscle of his chest.

But tugging on one side only threw the other side off balance. The thin string drew a red line across the female zerg's collarbone.

He stared at that red mark for a while before letting go.

"Beep beep, abnormal pheromone overflow detected. Do you need to inject an inhibitor?"

015's voice suddenly rang out and cut through the sticky atmosphere.

After all that tossing, the apron hung messily on the female zerg and was no longer presentable. The bases of Xi Ze's ears and neck were still red. At the sound, he turned his face away, breathing heavily in silence.

Ye Er barely snapped out of it and pressed a hand against 015's prying head to turn it away.

Not suitable for children.

As Xi Ze lowered his head to tidy his clothes in silence, Ye Er coughed lightly. "Next time, I'll buy you a bigger one."

The female zerg gave a low hum in reply, didn't take off the apron, and turned to check the breakfast in the pan. "Male Lord, go ahead and sit. It'll be ready soon."

Ye Er leaned against the doorframe and watched him stir deftly with the spatula. The aroma of food soon wafted out and spread through the morning air.

"You still can't control your pheromones?"

He suddenly asked, "What about during a normal estrus period?"

"Sometimes my pheromones still get away from me. It might be a lingering aftereffect from before. I need some time to recuperate."

Xi Ze answered as he flipped a soft, tender omelet without looking back. "Once the pheromones return to normal, the estrus period will too."

But Ye Er wrinkled his brow.

Hughes said his self-healing ability had been damaged. But isn't a female zerg's self-healing ability something inherent in the genes? I've heard that the higher the level, the stronger it is.

Xi Ze stared at the slightly burnt surface of the egg in the pan for a moment before answering slowly.

"Yeah. Back then, I was forcibly taken for surgery on my zerg form, specifically to damage that function."

But it hadn't been destroyed completely. A female zerg without self-healing would die easily, and that made torture less fun.

So they had left him some leeway. Not long ago, his self-healing had begun to recover gradually.

There was no sound behind him, and just as Xi Ze realized it too late and was about to turn around, he heard Ye Er say softly,

"When you go back to the Main Planet, remember to get a thorough check-up at the best hospital. The medical facilities here are quite outdated, so it's perfectly normal that they can't find anything. Don't assume it's only a minor problem. It builds up little by little*, and your body won't be able to take it."

*Many little drops make an ocean (idiom)

Xi Ze turned back and glanced at him a few times, then turned away again before the omelet could burn any further, and scooped it onto a plate.

"Okay."

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Ye Er lowered his gaze and changed the subject. "Can we eat now? I'm really hungry."

Xi Ze finally took off the apron, hung it aside, and brought out all the breakfast.

When Xi Ze untied the apron, Ye Er noticed two symmetrical red marks on his collarbone. When he reached out to touch them, they felt warm, but luckily the skin wasn't broken.

He felt a little helpless. "Why did you insist on wearing that? Don't you know it hurts to be squeezed like that?"

Xi Ze lowered his head obediently to let him touch, and casually rolled up Ye Er's sleeves so they wouldn't get in the way while he ate. "If I don't wear it, my clothes will get dirty."

Ye Er raised an eyebrow slightly, and before he could say anything, the female zerg's gaze shifted for a moment, a little shy, and he spoke hesitantly.

"And I thought... you would like how I look in that apron."

The wandering gaze steadied. Xi Ze lowered his eyes and looked into the depths of the male zerg's eyes, asking nervously in a soft voice, "Male Lord, did you like it?"

Ye Er's heart skipped a beat.

He blinked and, while the female zerg coughed lightly to cover the moment, barely managed to regain his composure.

"It's very adorable. I like it a lot."

Ye Er smiled quietly and rested his chin on one hand, raising his eyes to look intently at the female zerg.

"Even without the apron, you're just as adorable. I hope... you can always be as adorable as you are now."

He moved his lips, his voice so low he could barely hear it himself. "That's why I picked you up and brought you home."

"What?"

Xi Ze hadn't caught what he said afterward and paused for a moment before asking again.

Ye Er smiled with his lips pressed together, shook his head, and didn't answer. "It's nothing. Let's eat breakfast."

---

What had first drawn him was the female zerg's brilliant golden eyes.

Those eyes had clearly been full of overflowing pain, embarrassment, humiliation, and rage, yet they stayed sharp and clear, full of a vigor and life as tenacious as weeds.

They were the same, both living like dogs in this rotten world.

Only he was a homeless stray dog, while Xi Ze was a beaten, sick wolf. He had gradually withered in despair, while Xi Ze had fought fiercely to grow despite the bloodshed.

People were always drawn to what they lacked, and he was no exception.

Every moment they spent together, Xi Ze brought him more pleasant surprises, showing him that life could show itself not only through tenacity and resilience but also through an adorable softness that adapted to society and daily life.

Take the tall military female wearing that warm pink apron. It didn't look out of place or strange to him. If anything...

Adorable.

Ye Er murmured it a third time as he used his knife and fork to cut the omelet on his plate into the shape of a cute bow. It was crooked and twisted, but for some reason he really liked it.

He pushed the other scraps aside and set the bow omelet on Xi Ze's plate. "Eat this."

015 leaned over to look at the oddly shaped geometric egg. After scanning it for a moment, it still couldn't figure out what shape it was supposed to be, and it was utterly puzzled.

"What is this? It looks like that..."

Xi Ze promptly covered its mouth.

☰