Chapter 94: A Late-Night Tea Invitation from the Vice-Captain of the Space Pirates! ...

After finishing her meal, Pei Qian suddenly realized that it was already quite late.

The fleet sailed through the vast sea of ​​stars, where the starlight was dazzling and there was no distinction between day and night. Conventional standards of judgment were lost; only the weariness of the body faithfully reminded them that it was time to rest.

Pei Qing yawned. It was tiring to keep her mental energy materialized. She needed to rest and replenish her energy. The energy crystals for today should have been delivered to her room by now, right?

"Yade, I'm a little tired, I'll head back now," Pei Qing said to Yade.

“Okay,” Yad nodded, but then suddenly remembered something and called out to Pei Qing, “Please wait a moment, Your Excellency. Although I really don’t want to disturb your rest, I have some information here that I may need you to review.”

"I see," Pei Qing thought for a moment. After all, she was living under someone else's roof, so it wouldn't be good to refuse directly. "How about this, give me about an hour, and then I'll come find you. We'll go to the office area, right?"

“No, no need, that would be too much trouble for you,” Yad walked up to Pei Qing, his amber eyes gentle and clear. “My room is right next to yours, the documents are all there, you can go there after you’ve rested.”

"Okay, it's settled then." Pei Qing yawned again; only energy crystals could restore the depletion in her spiritual sea.

After Pei Qing left, Yad watched silently for a long time, his expression growing deeper and deeper. He waved to his subordinates, put his arm around Gaman's shoulder, and said, "Take the commander back to his room first."

"Yes." The subordinate bowed respectfully.

"Not bad," Pei Qing said, playing with the energy crystals inside the box. There were eight in total, and although the number was small, the quality was excellent. Each one was about the size of a fist, with a regular shape, a smooth and lustrous surface, and fluorescent blue energy clusters constantly moving within them.

It seems that Yad is a reliable guy. I should take advantage of this opportunity to make some extra money before I leave, and not waste this golden opportunity.

Pei Qing held the fluorescent blue crystal in her palm and crushed it bit by bit, the powder falling in a flurry. The next second, the jet-black tendrils rushed out, absorbing all the energy.

"Knock knock!"

"Right away!" Inside the room, Yad's voice sounded slightly flustered, accompanied by clattering sounds, as if he was stuffing something into the cabinet, clearly in a hurry.

"It's okay, I'm not leaving. Take your time, don't rush," Pei Qing casually comforted her.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," the door opened quickly, and Yad poked half his body out, his forehead slightly damp. "Please come in and have some tea first."

“Okay,” Pei Qing obediently followed him by the wrist into the house. The room was simply decorated, with heavy, silver-gray curtains that stood out. The first thing that caught her eye was a pot of pale purple floral tea still steaming on the coffee table in the living room.

"Please sit down and have some flower tea to warm yourself up." Yad leaned over and poured Pei Qing a cup of tea. He was wearing a light silk nightgown with simple lace patterns on the collar. The neckline was very wide, almost revealing all the fair skin underneath.

Pei Qing picked up her flower tea, glancing at the scene out of the corner of her eye. A smile played on her lips as she clearly saw Yad's flushed ear tips. The brown-haired male looked extremely nervous, the hem of his thin, smooth silk pajamas crumpled into a tangled mess.

"Is it... to your liking? I added some linden honey, which Gaman always likes. I thought that since you and he are both spiders, your tastes should be similar, so I took the liberty of adding it..."

Yad carefully observed Pei Qing's expression, his cheeks flushed red, and even the skin on his neck was flushed pink. This was the first time he had been alone in a room with a female insect. The innate fear and reverence for female insects buried deep in his bones brought him a great sense of oppression. A mixture of emotions made him feel turbulent and at a loss.

“Of course, it’s delicious,” Pei Qing said, finishing the flower tea in one gulp and adding another cup. “Very good. I didn’t expect the deputy commander to be so thoughtful and have such excellent tea-making skills.”

"That's good, I was worried..." Yad visibly breathed a sigh of relief. He tried his best to make his posture more relaxed and presentable, but facing the female insect with whom he had hidden intentions, any movement he made at this moment seemed extremely stiff.

He wanted to say something more, but Pei Qing waved his hand and said, "Although I would love to chat with the deputy commander a little longer, it's really late today, and Garman is still waiting for me in his room. Let's resolve the data issue as soon as possible. There's plenty of time in the future, and I'll definitely come back for tea another day."

Garman, it's Garman again... I only talked to her for less than ten minutes, and she... didn't want to stay a moment longer? Yad bit his lip hard, trying his best to hide the resentment in his eyes. He was clearly connected to her spiritually, so why did Garman have the right?!

“Alright,” Yad said slowly after taking a few deep breaths, his chest heaving. “The documents are in the study. Let’s go there to talk.”

Inside the study, Yad placed several ancient books of the Zerg in front of Pei Qing, explaining as he flipped through them: "These were recently sent by my subordinates; they are about... the breeding season of the Zerg royal family."

"Gaman is the royal family of the Zerg?" Pei Qing caught the key information and paused in his reading. Most documents in the interstellar era were in electronic format, so early paper books were extremely precious, mostly containing out-of-print information from the early days.

"You are the female insectoid who is about to reproduce with Gaman, so I will not hide it from you. Gaman is indeed a member of the insectoid royal family, but he was born with a defect. He was abandoned by his father in the lower streets shortly after birth and left to fend for himself."

“I see,” Pei Qing nodded, then suddenly his gaze sharpened as he pointed to the book and said, “'If the insect race exhibits a reversion to its ancestral state, although it may be very powerful, it is highly likely to cause the collapse of the spiritual sea. This condition is more common in male insects.' Therefore, Gaman is a male insect that exhibited a reversion to its ancestral state, which is also the reason for the collapse of his spiritual sea.”

“Yes, Gaman does match the description in the book.” Yad picked up another book. “It is true that the disordered repair of the female insect’s spiritual power entering the male insect’s spiritual sea during the reproduction process can be effective, but it will have to wait until Gaman has completed its secondary development.”

"Secondary development?"

“Gaman is different from other male insects. Although he has entered adulthood, his body has not been fully developed, especially his reproductive system…” Yad’s voice suddenly lowered.

Seeing his embarrassed expression, Pei Qian understood and continued, "His reproductive organs need to undergo a second developmental process to fully develop before he can enter the true reproductive period."

“That’s right, but the secondary development is very slow. I’m afraid Gaman’s mental sea won’t be able to hold out for that long.” Yad said with a worried expression.

Do you have any methods to accelerate secondary development?

“It’s not so much a solution as an attempt,” Yad said after a moment of silence. If he could, he wouldn’t want Pei Qing to do such a thing. However, he had spent decades with Garman, and he couldn’t bear to watch Garman die. So, even though Yad was attracted to the female insect before him, he couldn’t ignore Garman’s physical condition.

"Speak, a quick resolution is beneficial for both of us," Pei Qing said seriously. She could afford to wait, but the Marshal couldn't. "Actually, our previous plan was useful, but we need to add more stimulation to the mental sea."

"His spiritual sea? We're not connected yet, so I can't enter his spiritual sea."

"No, perhaps it's possible. After all, your mental strengths are compatible and highly matched, and Garman trusts you completely. It's worth a try."

"So, the current situation is to proceed with the physical stimulation as originally planned, supplemented by internal stimulation of the mental sea, to accelerate secondary development," Pei Qing summarized.

"That's right."

“Hmm,” Pei Qing pursed her lips, thinking that this was a good idea, and it might actually work. “Okay, let’s do it this way.”

Yad thought Pei Qing would hesitate for a while, but he didn't expect her to agree so quickly. He felt a strange feeling in his heart, and he couldn't explain what it meant. A sour feeling rose up, with a hint of bitterness.

“Alright, we’ve pretty much covered everything for today, so I’ll take my leave now…” Pei Qing stood up and said goodbye to Ya De.

“Wait,” Yad called out to the man, his eyes unreadable. “Have a cup of tea before you go, just to soothe your throat.”

"Oh? Okay." Pei Qing agreed and plopped down on the sofa. She was indeed a little thirsty and drank three cups in a row.

Throughout the process, Yad remained silent, pouring tea without saying a word. Pei Qing sensed that he was somewhat downcast, but she couldn't pinpoint the reason.

"I'm leaving," Pei Qing said, her throat almost soothed; it was time for her to go.

"Please wait a moment, I'll see you out after I'm done packing." As he spoke, Yad's packing became increasingly impatient.

"Uh, no, it's just across the street, I can walk there myself—"

"Crack!" Whether lost in thought or for some other reason, the glass teapot full of black tea on Yad's tray suddenly fell and slammed hard onto the table! Tea splashed everywhere!

"Whoa!" Pei Qing was startled and turned around to see Yad squatting on the ground picking up shards of glass with his hands. "Don't touch it with your hands!"

Pei Qing quickly stepped over the floor covered in spilled flower tea and forcibly pulled Yad up. "Don't pick it up with your hands! There's a cleaning machine there, why don't you use it!"

Yad kept his head down and remained motionless.

Pei Qing thought she had spoken too harshly and was about to offer some words of comfort when she touched Yad's shoulder and found him trembling all over. What was going on? Pei Qing was dumbfounded. Was he crying? It was just a broken teapot!

"Don't cry, it's just a teapot. We can buy another one another day. Out with the old, in with the new..." Pei Qing, who had just gotten up from the sofa, sat back down in the blink of an eye. She gently put her arm around Yad's shoulder, letting his head rest against her chest, and said softly, "Okay, okay... don't cry..."

To her surprise, her comforting words had no effect; instead, Yad suddenly burst into tears as if he had suffered a great injustice, and the crying intensified. Pei Qing was practically going crazy. She hated men crying the most, except in bed, of course… No, the point was! What on earth was Yad crying about?!

Yad gripped Pei Qing's clothes tightly with both hands, as if grasping at the last straw, his voice choked with sobs, "That was, that was, my, my favorite... um... a teapot set... sob... it's broken... sob!"

"Ha, is that so..." Pei Qing's mind raced, but she couldn't find any comforting words from her meager brain. Tsk, she'd never comforted a man before! It's just a broken teapot! Really! He's wasting her rest time!

I don't know where Yade got so many tears from. Pei Qing's clothes were soaked through; I bet she could wring out two pounds of water when she got back.

"Alright, alright, you must be too tired lately," Pei Qing patted Yad's back as a gesture of comfort, then suddenly picked him up in her arms. The brown-haired male exclaimed in surprise and hugged her neck tightly.

"Which one is your room? I'll take it directly to you. Get some rest, and I'll handle the rest." Pei Qing's voice was gentler than ever before. Yad sobbed a few times, buried his head in her arms, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart, making him feel incredibly at peace.

"there……"

"Bang!" Pei Qing kicked open the door and put Yad on the bed. The silk robe was lifted up, revealing his fair skin. Only then did Pei Qing realize that his robe was also wet with tea, and the scenery inside was completely exposed.

"Your pajamas are wet, change into something, otherwise you won't feel comfortable sleeping," Pei Qing said, getting up to look around. "Do you have any spares in your closet?"

“Yes…” Yad’s voice was weak and nasal, “It’s that cabinet in front of you.”

"Okay, I'll get you an outfit. By the way, which one do you usually wear—" an outfit...

Pei Qing opened the cabinet and fell silent, a rare occurrence for her.

She asked, "Didn't that kid Yad say he was conservative before? Judging from his pajamas, he doesn't seem conservative at all... No, no, no, maybe he really is conservative, outwardly conservative, but inwardly, he might be a bit... repressed and... flirtatious, which is normal."

"You can't deprive someone of their right to be a 'secretly sexy' person, can you?" Pei Qing thought to herself as she looked at the row of two straps in the wardrobe, each a different color and style—lace, pearl, XX... She licked her palate.

"Um, Yad, which pajamas do you usually wear—oh no, which one?" Pei Qing organized her thoughts and asked again. So, today he was wearing the only non-awkward robe he wore to invite her for tea.

"Is it this lace?" At least there's a matching sheer cover-up, so it's not too... you know. She respects everyone's freedom; as long as it's something a person likes, she has no other intentions.

“Anything is fine…actually…” Yad watched as Pei Qing walked towards the wardrobe he had placed there beforehand. Even though he had anticipated this situation, shame still quickly swept over him. Overwhelmed by shame, he almost blurted out that he had another wardrobe and that he didn’t usually wear those things, but he managed to hold back with sheer willpower.

What if... she likes it this way... Yad thought, blushing.

"Here you go," Pei Qing said, almost blindfolded, as she pulled the lace dress from a pile of strips of fabric that wouldn't even make a single garment. Her face was a little red, but her strength lay in her ability to pretend. At this moment, she was acting as if nothing had happened, turning her back to Yad and looking at the stars through the window.

Yad took the clothes from Pei Qing, his hands trembling as he took off the silk nightgown that was almost completely soaked with tea, and picked up another nightgown, or rather, pajama bottoms. He forced himself to remain calm, put them on, and finally slipped on the thin gauze cover-up that covered almost nothing.

Pei Qing had her back to the brown-haired male insect. She wanted to leave, but considering that leaving now would be even more awkward, she stayed. After all, if something really happened, she wouldn't be the one to suffer.

She was intently watching the stars, counting how many were closest to her. Then, when she caught a glimpse of the reflection in the glass, Pei Qing's pupils constricted sharply!

This glass... it reflects everything that happened behind it so clearly!

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Author's Note: [Facepalm peeking][Facepalm peeking][Facepalm peeking] My darlings, please comment and give me some nutrient solution! [Pity][Pity][Pity]