Chapter 58

The smell of blood lingered on Fei's body. He silently closed his eyes again, not giving the small male insect another glance.

The male insect, being habitually ignored, showed no sign of disappointment or unhappiness. He was anxious about the consequences of his escape, wondering if this majestic female insect had come to find him.

It was a misunderstanding.

But no insect knows.

Toto couldn't help but think about it, and he denied it in his heart, but when he thought about the Zerg coming to find him, his mood was surprisingly not so bad.

He was unaware of the army's strict prohibitions, the rigid hierarchy, and lacked a proper understanding of his ridiculous genetic sequence. He thought that the green medal was really just a useless thing.

Toto had no vibrant dreams. In his impoverished life, what he was ashamed to say, what he dared not tell his female and male fathers, was simply a hug. He longed to be tightly wrapped in his parents' old coats, even if it meant he couldn't breathe properly.

He would close his eyes and open his hands during breaks from farm work, chopping wood, or herding livestock.

The warm sunshine and the gentle mountain breeze felt like a tender embrace.

Let that lonely gray shadow be incorporated into the wilderness.

He was unaware that having uncommon trust and affection for a stranger was extremely dangerous, and could even make the Zerg feel confused and offended.

Nobody wants to be depended on by a stranger.

Besides, Toto doesn't look fragile at all, nor is he particularly beautiful, so even if he gets hurt, the Zerg won't feel sorry for him. They think that since his life is already like this, he has probably developed an iron body and will recover if he just endures it.

Even many years later, when he learned that Fei had accidentally entered the yurt, the male insect, who was respectfully called Mr. Torregia, only smiled absently for a moment. His smile vanished like a gentle breeze, as if he truly no longer cared.

On this night, the chirping of insects was exceptionally clear.

Neither of the two Zerg in the yurt was asleep. Fei had his eyes closed, and the warm flames gradually weakened, only to be stirred and slowly warmed up again.

He opened his eyes and looked at the little male insect who had remained quiet to the side. The child was squatting by the fire, the light illuminating his profile. He poked at the embers, and the warm ashes instantly turned into a wisp of smoke, shooting out from the tent roof and into the dark blue night sky. Stars peeked out from the clouds, weaving a silver river.

Fei looked at the starry sky and was suddenly touched. He didn't know where the feeling came from, and he didn't delve into it when he was looking at a weak child.

Looking back, the dark, dense mountains and the vast, open fields suddenly made him feel a sense of fear and loneliness. The Zerg had been in the interstellar age for many years, but when facing nature alone, they would still subconsciously seek out their own kind.

Fei asked, "Are you cold?"

He spoke suddenly, and Toto paused, unsure whether to nod or shake his head. His spiky short hair made him look like a little rascal, and his eyes stared blankly at Fei, as if he didn't understand what he was asking.

Fei suddenly found it funny, but then belatedly realized that he shouldn't have done that. He thought to himself, "He's just a fifteen-year-old child, much younger than my younger brother. How could he have been so hostile towards him just now?"

He waved to Toto. After inheriting the family business, Fei rarely recalled his childhood and youth. Those impetuous years seemed to have been erased, as if he had always been so calm, dignified, and aloof.

But in the dead of night, when no insects were following him and he had been fighting for a long time, he encountered a weak fellow insect. The little pity and childlike innocence he had left were rekindled like a candle.

"come over."

He spoke calmly, a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth, a far cry from his cold-blooded and ruthless demeanor just moments before.

Strangely, Toto wasn't afraid of him. He seemed genuinely cold, or perhaps he had been waiting for Fei to call him. This dusty little teacup, with its spiky, frizzy head, moved closer to Fei as if it had planned it all along. Its deep gray eyes stared at him unblinkingly, like a stray dog ​​approaching a kind stranger while simultaneously wary of being suddenly kicked.

Fei reached out and put his arm around him, thinking, "This child is so cold, how did he get so frozen?" So he changed to half-hugging him, as if he were holding an ice block in his arms.

Toto was freezing cold, his hands and feet were ice-cold, but he didn't say a word at first, and just now he went out of the yurt to move some firewood.

Just as his adjutant once said, he was a good boy.

Fei's chin rested on Toto's head. His short hair was spiky and smelled of sweat, but mostly of insect repellent herbs used to repel mosquitoes, and a hint of wild jasmine.

He felt that Toto was cold and stiff, yet very easy to handle, with its eyes open, letting him rub it.

But Fei knew that Toto wasn't that kind of person. Although he didn't understand why, Fei found this special treatment somewhat amusing.

He said, "How did I end up here?"

Fei belatedly realized that this was a little prisoner. Despite being small, the child was brave. There was no sound from inside his arms until a while later, he heard the child say, "I miss home."

This sentence was devoid of emotion. Fei looked down at him. Toto stared at the fire, his face full of distress, as if he was thinking about how to continue. But in the end, he couldn't find the words to describe his complicated feelings, and he summed it all up in one word.

He had a small crack on his forehead with traces of green herbs around it, and it was swollen up like a small bun. Combined with Toto's serious expression, it was strangely funny.

Fei took out the ointment from his uniform pocket, intending to hand it to Toto, but then thought better of it and squeezed it onto his finger, then rubbed it in.

If his subordinates or guards saw this, they would be astonished; he hadn't done such a thing himself in many years.

Even with a refined appearance, he couldn't hide his cold and aloof nature; to others, he was more dignified than approachable.

Fei rubbed it, his tone somewhat like he was joking: "I haven't made your father work overtime lately, I'll give him a day off tomorrow."

He overlooked Toto's male father, even though the child was sad, returning to family and society was the best fate for the poor male insect who had been abducted.

Toto wasn't a talkative insect; his words were short and he would pause for a while if he didn't know how to answer. He said, "Father hasn't come home; he's busy."

What are you busy with... Fei's relaxed expression faltered slightly, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Sorim had been letting him rest for several days because of his perfunctory handling of the pursuit and capture of the hiding bandits, but he hadn't gone home yet.

Fei suddenly realized whose child Toto was. He was about to ask a few more questions when he found that Toto had already fallen asleep. The little boy's eyes were closed, and his eyelashes, like two rows of tiny brushes, trembled from time to time.

Fei didn't ask any more questions. He held Toto in his arms, just like he would when he was a little brother who was still a baby insect, and gently patted Toto's back.

He was tall and warm. There were many sounds in the deep mountains at night. He held Toto in his arms and listened to those sounds until he fell asleep.

When Fei woke up the next day, he didn't say anything more to Toto. Many soldiers came to the tent, surrounding the commander and taking back the escaped prisoner.

The yurt was thus destroyed. Toto looked back and saw the rolling green hills receding further and further away from him, as did the commander who was standing in the distance talking to the soldiers.

Toto returned to the prisoner-of-war camp, but his mother still did not show up, occasionally sending him food and supplies through soldiers.

Toto's rank was not high enough to enjoy the Alliance's social welfare benefits during wartime, so he never received any special treatment, nor did he need it.

He performed very well in the training camp and was frequently commended. The instructors found that he was very quick-witted and had the potential to be a reconnaissance or assault soldier. Unfortunately, his genetic level was not high enough to meet the requirements for military academy recruitment, and his identity would also make it difficult for him to pass the political review.

Besides him, many other male insects went from being unconvinced at first to gradually adapting to the rigorous training and becoming increasingly interested in improving their abilities little by little.

This atmosphere eventually influenced the entire training camp, which had once been noticed by Fei but was later abandoned out of disappointment. Strangely, it began to shine.

The guard officer joked, "Those single old females waiting to catch male crickets are probably going to hate you to death. You've changed their fate."

Those who fail the tests set by the alliance will be classified as special male insects without autonomy and will be assigned to various places as needed.

But once they pass the assessment, they become a completely different person.

Countless emails failed to rouse Fei's lips; he neither accepted any benefits nor bothered to do so, but he also paid little attention to the male insects.

He fulfilled his duties, but that was all; he showed no sympathy or resentment. He also paid no attention to the insectoids who had gained a sliver of hope because of him.

But why did I receive flowers?

He looked at Toto, but his imposing and cold demeanor was no longer enough to make him stop in his tracks when he met Toto's stern gaze. There was no fear, no fawning, and no smile on the child's face.

He spoke plainly, yet Fei found it endearing: "Here, take this."

Then they presented him with a large bunch of dried, eerie yet beautiful flowers. The guard officer's expression cracked, and the surrounding soldiers all looked at him as if he had dug his own grave.

Fei paused for a moment, then raised an eyebrow with the cold expression he used when dealing with his subordinates after he grew up. He had used this look to tease and deter many opponents or male insects who were attracted to him.

He was an adult, and not without romantic experience, so he found it absurd yet quite funny to receive flowers from someone much younger than him who hadn't even reached adulthood.

Toto wasn't used to being watched by so many people. He looked like his unruly female father, but he was very well-behaved, or so Fei had thought before.

He said, "That night, I heard you constantly smelling this scent."

Oh, it's out of gratitude.

Fei suddenly realized that the last jasmine-like fragrance he smelled that night, he couldn't help but sniff it several times.

With a slight smile, Fei accepted the handful of dried flowers. It didn't look like a gift at all, but its rough, straightforward, and undisguised nature clearly showed that it was a gift that had been carefully picked, preserved, and dried for him.

It reminded Fei of his uncle in the family who eloped with someone and ended up destitute and impoverished. His uncle said this when he passed away.

In this world, do we need to measure whether someone is worthy of being loved before we can love, or whether someone is worthy of being treated kindly before we can be treated kindly?

Author's Note:

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Just a quick chapter, love you all, muah!