APUTFFZG Chapter 41.1

Ye Er's mind was blank.

He reached out on instinct to touch Xi Ze's back and felt something warm and clammy on his hand.

Fresh blood gushed from under the shirt and ran over his fingers and palm like an unstoppable spring.

"...Xi Ze?! Xi..."

His voice was hoarse and full of panic as he whispered, trying to press down on the wound, but he couldn't stop the blood.

"It's fine."

Xi Ze's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the metallic sweetness at the root of his tongue. He pulled the male zerg's hand back and pressed it against his chest, hidden in his shadow.

The long-lost scent of gunpowder and blood seemed to awaken something. The zerg markings on his body suddenly burned hot, as if they were spreading and growing.

He could feel gaps opening faintly on either side of his shoulder blades, as if something inside were trying to break free.

The male zerg in his arms seemed very uncomfortable. Even in the dim light, his face was alarmingly pale.

Was he scared?

Xi Ze didn't dwell on it. His eyes were half closed, but his mind was stretched taut to its limit as he sensed the chaotic changes in his body.

"Ha..."

---

The proud female zerg blew on the barrel of his laser gun, his left hand gripping a safety rope. He slid down quickly from the invisible little airship, landed briskly in the middle of the street, and burst into a cursing tirade—

"I knew it!!!"

"I fucking knew it. Only you could make that money-hungry Xie family stop their illegal gunpowder trade and cut off their own tails to survive!"

How long had it been since he had felt frustration like this, halfway through slaughtering a planet only to find his backup supplies gone?!

Antoine, that pushover who would burst at a squeeze, didn't have that kind of nerve, and the decayed, cowardly royal family didn't have the awareness either. The only one who could squeeze the star pirates' lifeline directly was—

Of course. Only this devil who had crawled up from hell could.

Herrick was furious but quickly calmed down. After a few heavy breaths, he wore a strange smile.

"But what's the use? To hide your tracks, the troops you've gathered can only huddle on an unregulated garbage planet. There's no way they can get here in time to rescue you—"

"By then, I'll have plenty of time to skin you alive and make a beautiful carpet out of you."

The star pirates around him roared with laughter and watched at leisure as their boss strode confidently toward the female zerg kneeling on the ground ahead.

"Fuck! That lowly zerg just severed one of my arms, boss! Help this little brother get revenge!"

One star pirate, cold sweat all over his face, shouted boldly, and their boss, in a good mood, waved a hand and casually twirled the gun.

Click. The smoking barrel was pressed against the hair of the female zerg in front of him.

"Say... something? I didn't shoot through your throat just now, did I?"

His tone dropped a few degrees, and his sinister gaze suddenly shifted. But he was caught off guard when the coat in the female zerg's arms, which had been covering something, was shaken off—

Revealing a pair of eyes.

Deep as bottomless black holes, they blazed, lit by rage, like two flickering ghost fires.

With one glance, Herrick froze in place. His mind went blank, and even his breath seemed to stop.

That almost tangible rage set off the suppression buried in his genes and blood, which woke at once and screamed hysterically with fear and submission.

Thud.

The gun slipped from his stiff fingers and crashed to the ground, stirring up dust.

But while he stood frozen, Xi Ze suddenly moved.

Soft cracking sounds continued as the fabric on his back bulged into an irregular shape, like a butterfly struggling out of its cocoon. After a quick rise and fall, it opened with a whoosh and burst out of his shirt—

A massive shadow bathed in blood emerged, and in an instant it unfolded into a pair of bone wings several meters long!

"!!!"

Herrick, still in shock nearby, was clearly the first victim.

The bone wings sent him flying almost instantly. Had he not activated his protective shield without hesitation, he would likely have been sliced in half.

"Boss! Are you okay?!"

The star pirates, bewildered by the sudden change, rushed forward in a panic to help Herrick up.

At that moment, a beam of moonlight broke through the clouds and lit the dim area ahead.

One star pirate caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye and went wide-eyed with horror. "What... is that..."

Xi Ze gently set the zerg he was holding on the ground and stood up.

The bone wings behind him were made of countless precisely arranged bones, expanding and contracting like breathing, with a metallic yet subdued, dark, heavy luster.

Countless menacing bone spikes lined the edges of the wings, sharp enough to pierce defensive armor with ease.

Fresh blood even dripped from them, pattering onto the snow below.

"Get lost! You bunch of fools!"

Herrick's face turned ashen as he kicked one star pirate away and pushed himself up from the ground.

He looked at the scene before him. His expression seemed to set for a moment before slowly twisting into a bloody grin.

"That's right... you should be like this. This is how it should be! Now it's interesting!"

"......"

Xi Ze tilted his head slightly, and beneath the disheveled strands of hair falling over his face, a line of dazzling golden light flickered in his eyes.

---

For most of the star pirates, the battle that followed was the chance of a lifetime to watch a clash between top-tier powers.

It was thrilling and exhilarating.

No living creature dared come within dozens of meters of the battlefield, afraid that the slightest disturbance would cost them their lives.

Bitingly cold mental power whipped into a storm, making sounds that sent shivers down the zergs' spines as the two clashed. Together with the beating bone wings, it stirred up icy winds and sent shattered ice flying in every direction.

"......"

Xi Ze's newly emerged bone wings were still a little unaccustomed to use, while Herrick pounced and bit like a rabid dog.

Xi Ze took a few hits to the shoulder, and a vertical crease appeared between his brows.

But the moment he threw himself fully into the fight, the combat memories etched deep within him gradually returned. Xi Ze raised a forearm to block a powerful strike from Herrick, and an icy glint flashed in his eyes.

No longer merely defending, he landed a kick that broke one of Herrick's ribs and sent him flying several meters before he barely stopped himself.

"Continue."

Xi Ze gave a light laugh, a flash of fervor between his brows, as he watched Herrick bare sharp claws like a beast and rush up at tremendous speed.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!!!

While the violent battle raged on, the star pirates who had been left out in the cold began to stir restlessly again and edged toward Ye Er, who had been set on the ground.

"...What's that over there? Let's sneak over and see if we can grab it to threaten this female zerg."

But before most of them could get close, Xi Ze noticed and swept one bone wing to send them flying. Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and cries of anguish rang out once more.

"Who's... inside those clothes? Is it worth being this careful?"

Herrick narrowed his eyes. He beat his own bone wings, closed the distance quickly, and began to grapple with the female zerg.

...

Xi Ze said nothing, but his strikes grew more and more ruthless, hardly giving his opponent a moment to breathe.

The relentless attacks drove Herrick into a corner, yet he still managed to sneer now and then as he spoke.

"So precious? Now I'm even more curious whether it has anything to do with how fast you recovered."

Antoine might be an idiot, but he wouldn't hide something this important. When he said the female zerg had escaped only a week ago, it should be true.

But now it seemed more likely that this female zerg had used some method to fool that idiot and had recovered from his severe injuries in a short time.

Could it be the thing he was holding?

The terrifying feeling from earlier still left Herrick uneasy, but not enough to make him run with his tail between his legs. He only wondered what high-tech device could be disrupting his mind.

Then again, if it were that powerful, why hadn't the female zerg used it from the start to escape this predicament? In that case, it shouldn't be too threatening.

While Xi Ze was tied up for a moment, some sharper-eyed star pirates approached Ye Er again. Taking advantage of Xi Ze's inattention, one of them suddenly lifted the garment—

That star pirate was astounded for a moment.

It was a male zerg.

And not just any male zerg, but one so exquisitely beautiful that he should have been raised in the royal family, cherished like the moon among stars*, not lying in the cold snow on this filthy, bloody battlefield.

*Literally "all the stars cup themselves around the moon" (an idiom from the Analects); figuratively, to be treated as the center of attention

"A male zerg! It's a male zerg! Fuck..."

His companion beside him snapped back to reality and exclaimed excitedly, but before he could reach out, a flying knife went through his neck.

"......"

Something seemed to be sounding beside his ear, but it was all muddled and indistinct.

Ye Er furrowed his brow in extreme discomfort. His earlier burst of mental power had lasted only a moment before surging pain overwhelmed it and pushed him into unconsciousness.

"......"

But he still remembered their predicament, remembered that Xi Ze was hurt, and the stifling emotions kept fermenting, his chaotic mental power surging violently and compressing and expanding again and again in his mind.

"...Xi Ze..."

He murmured hoarsely, his fingers spasming as they grabbed a handful of snow, the bone-chilling cold biting his palm.

As if it had heard the murmur, a gust of wind swept past, and the annoying flies buzzing beside him finally stopped for good.

Xi Ze, fighting through his injuries, beat his bone wings and broke away from Herrick for a moment, harvesting a round of star pirates around the male zerg.

But the relentless female zerg chased after him again. He turned to defend himself and pushed Herrick back some distance so he wouldn't hurt the unconscious male zerg by accident.

"Male... zerg?"

Herrick stared in surprise at Xi Ze's ugly expression and said, pausing on each word, "You would actually protect a male zerg?"

The next second, his shoulder was run through. He gasped, and cold sweat broke out at once, but his gaze stayed fixed on Xi Ze's neck, where a thick bandage was wrapped.

And it seemed something was hidden inside—

A possible guess made Herrick's pupils contract slightly with excitement.

"You... have become this male zerg's female slave?"

"You? A female slave? Hahahahahahahahaha..."

He seemed to have stumbled on a huge joke. He no longer cared about being attacked and laughed until he could hardly breathe.

"Oh my god! The renowned... has actually become a lowly female slave! Am I seeing things?!"

But as he laughed, anger slowly took over, and he nearly raved hysterically.

"To willingly wallow in depravity! Is it fun to struggle at death's door?! If you had any real dignity, you should have killed yourself when you were caught!"

Xi Ze had been too lazy to argue with this deranged female zerg, but the last sentence stunned him for a moment.

Military females regarded honor and dignity as everything, and a military female who lost both was seen as a blatant failure. Why would anyone live without value?

Although the system had its logic, female slaves were indeed despised as the lowest class. For a military female to be reduced to a male zerg's slave was a huge humiliation.

But... he thought of Ye Er frowning and looking at him with disapproval while going on and on about life being above all, patiently tending his wounds, and watching him recover bit by bit with a gentle smile in his eyes...

All the humiliation and hatred seemed to fade, leaving only a flowing, tranquil warmth that let every wound heal slowly while the flesh that had been sliced away grew back tenaciously.

He lost himself for a moment, then smiled, relieved.

"I won't die. That's none of your goddamn business."

Xi Ze stopped wasting words and pinned him down, beating him until he had no room to escape and no space for his rubbish.

Herrick was an A+-level female zerg who had honed his skills through long years of struggle in space. He was capable enough to trade blows with Xi Ze.

What's more, the beating had only fired him up. He threw away his weapons and started brawling hand to hand, and the ruckus was such that no zerg dared come within several meters. The surrounding buildings suffered even more damage because of it.

…