Chapter 8 The insect pincers are so itchy, I really want to give them to that human...

The time spent waiting for the wind was so blissful, so peaceful, and so fleeting.

Before any of the insects could react, the starships inspecting a new batch of Carlo stones had already landed on Carlo.

They need to get the caloite they've collected over this period onto the starship as soon as possible.

This is their decades-long mission of inscribing the insect core.

But this time...

Sensing the urging from the insects in the web, each insect's antennae twitched impatiently.

I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!

I don't want to move! I don't want to move! I don't want to move!

We must wait for the wind, we must wait for the wind, we must wait for the wind!!!

Finally, all the insects pretended not to have heard anything, their bodies seemingly glued to the ground, completely still.

The antennae that had been impatiently swaying back and forth have now straightened up obediently again.

As time went on, the urging from within the insect web grew increasingly urgent.

The insects, whose spirits had finally been calmed by the wind, were thrown into chaos again by the urging sounds.

Even so, all the insects remained firmly in place, unwilling to move or leave.

Finally, one of the insects, driven to a fever pitch by the noise, couldn't help but take a small step back.

But instead of leaving, he raised his pincers and irritably shoved the insect beside him:

Hiss—

"Go quickly—"

The insect, pushed back a step, blinked its antennae in confusion. Realizing what had happened, it rammed back with all its might.

"Hiss hiss hiss—"

"you go--"

The actions of the two insects affected the other insects around them.

Then, all the insects started pushing and shoving each other.

Each insect didn't want to leave and hoped that the other insects could complete the mission of transporting the Carlo Stones onto the starship.

As they jostled and bumped into each other, each insect carefully retracted its pincers.

At most, it would just knock the insects around it backward a few times.

The three words 'good boy' were etched firmly into the brains of every single insect.

And so, a group of insects bumped into each other, until they finally stopped and realized that they had already rolled away from the vicinity of the mine.

Hearing the Webworms' increasingly agitated and almost riotous urging, they finally turned away and reluctantly went to the starship's landing site.

Below the starship.

An insect is irritably using its pincers to crush the surrounding rock.

The unease and chaos that accompanied him from the moment he was born from the egg made him want to destroy everything around him.

Jimmy watched as the ore crumbled under his pliers, his vertical pupils still brimming with agitation.

His antennae twitched wildly, urging him on within the insect web:

"So slow, so slow, so slow!"

Finally, an insect responded to him:

"It's so noisy! So noisy! So noisy!"

Keo flicked his tail, responding to Jimmy in the web while occasionally glancing back to see if any insects were sneaking back.

Only after confirming that all the insects were still there did he feel relieved enough to continue forward.

Approaching Jimmy, he tossed a folded bag onto his tongs, the bag containing the calostones that humans had mined during this time.

His voice, filled with impatience, crackled with the chirping of insects.

"Hiss—it's all here."

After saying that, he twisted his insect body and turned around in a flash, intending to leave.

Jimmy watched as a swarm of insects came rushing in, stayed for less than a second, and then rushed away in a flurry, before he could even raise his pincers.

He could only hook the closest one, Keo:

"Hiss—what's wrong?"

Keo watched the insects leave, and anxiously flicked his tail repeatedly.

"Nothing's wrong!!"

"We must monitor humanity!!"

“We have to wait—” Keo’s vertical pupils turned red for a moment, and the possessive instinct surging in his insect brain made him conceal the existence of the wind, “Karo Stone.”

Jimmy looked at his anxious expression, a hint of doubt flashing in his vertical pupils.

But the constant chaos and unease prevented him from thinking clearly; he hissed as he relayed the orders from the higher Zerg:

"I want more and more beautiful karos stones."

Keo: "Okay, okay, okay."

Jimmy: "Human reserves are running low, we need to kill less—"

Keo: "Okay, okay, okay."

Jimmy: "When you can't control yourself, hit other insects, try not to hit people."

"A person dies as soon as they are hit."

Keo: "Okay, okay, okay!"

He watched as the insects disappeared from sight and struggled to shake off Jimmy's pincers.

He kept repeating "I understand" as he quickly disappeared from Jimmy's sight.

Jimmy tilted his head, and the antennae on the top of his head twitched curiously.

He took a step forward, then stopped as if he had thought of something, and gripped the folded space in the tongs filled with calostones tightly.

Jimmy hissed and mumbled something, then turned his insect form back onto the starship:

Hiss—

"We need to find gems—"

"We must find the most beautiful gems for the king."

The moment he left Carlo Star, a strange and unfamiliar feeling caused Jimmy's vertical pupils to contract for a moment.

It seems like... something has been lost?

He stared at the black universe outside the starship, unable to think any further; his chaotic worm brain was left with only one thought:

Looking for gems—

We must present the king with the most beautiful gemstones—

*

Around the mine.

After the other insects pushed and shoved their way out of the mine.

Villa peeked out from the insect-free corner, its antennae trembling with delight:

He could finally wait for the wind in peace.

Not far away, there was a large insect that remained there because no other insect could move it.

The two insects didn't look at each other; they simply lay on the ground, happily and peacefully waiting for the wind to appear at some unknown time.

Villa crossed his pincers, his gaze fixed intently on the air.

But at some point, his gaze shifted downwards, gradually landing on a human who was mining.

Why does the human body look like it would break at the slightest touch?

Small, thin, grayish humans.

Villa's antennae twitched unhappily:

Why is this human still so thin and weak?

Are you hungry?

Hiss—

Villa seemed to remember something, shook his head, and quickly shifted his gaze to the air:

He's waiting for the wind!

There's no time to care about weak, thin, starving humans!

Just then, he caught a glimpse of the human staggering and nearly falling.

The worm, Villa, shuddered.

Seeing the human stand up straight, he relaxed and looked at his pincers in confusion.

My pincers are so itchy, I really want to throw some nutrient solution at that human!

Just as he was filled with doubt, a long-awaited breeze suddenly swept across the entire mine.

Villa no longer remembered the existence of humans and suddenly straightened his insect body.

The insect not far away also stood up, gazing intently and devoutly at the dark purple sky.

Villa's gaze, however, shifted slightly downwards from mid-air.

The wind's origin... doesn't seem to be in the air.

Is it... around the mine?

If he could find the origin of the wind—

The body of the villonius trembled involuntarily, and its chaotic mind suddenly found direction:

He thought of the monitoring devices used to spy on humans.

Because he has never cared about humans, he has never turned on the monitor.

If the wind really does come from around the mine, then maybe the monitoring equipment can capture images of the wind!

Villa closed his eyes and turned on the monitor in the insect net.

Countless images appeared in the insect web.

But--

The wind is colorless and formless, so he had no way of finding it.

As he carefully discerned the wind direction, his gaze kept involuntarily lingering on a thin figure.

She's in this scene!

She was in that picture too!

How come she's still in the next monitoring list?

Villa clenched its pincers and twitched its antennae in frustration:

Why is she everywhere?!

A note from the author:

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It's not that she's everywhere, it's that out of so many people, you only see her, Villa!