This queen seems... a bit strange. She doesn't seem as enthusiastic about war as the legends say. Her mind seems to be elsewhere.
This discovery was like a glimmer of light in the darkness. Jiang Chan began to think. Perhaps... perhaps assassination wasn't the only way out, but what should she do? She couldn't even understand what was being said.
The days passed in constant fear. Once again, while Alyssa was in the lab, a curious guard insect secretly poked at the gel wall of Jiang Chan's cage with the sharp tip of its appendage, making a soft "plop" sound, only centimeters away from Jiang Chan's face. Jiang Chan had nowhere to hide, and was both shocked and furious.
Just then, the buzzing sound of Alyssa finishing her work came from the lab. The guard insect immediately retracted its appendages.
Alyssa's massive body slowly moved over. She seemed to be in a good mood, her tentacles swaying gently. She first glanced habitually at the gap in the moss pile that had been corroded by acid and which the worker insects hadn't had time to fully repair, then looked at Jiang Chan, who was huddled in the corner, her face pale.
A thought flashed through Jiang Chan's mind: An opportunity!
As Alyssa approached the edge of the cage, and a tentacle instinctively reached in to touch her, Jiang Chan gasped. She didn't scream, but instead let out a very faint, extremely aggrieved whimper from deep within her throat.
She curled up, hugging herself tightly, her body trembling slightly. Her eyes were fixed on the large, corroded hole, then quickly glanced at Alyssa, her gaze filled with fear and...accusation.
She even extended a finger, trembling slightly, and pointed to the hole.
The sobbing was very soft, but it was unusually clear in the quiet palace.
Alyssa's outstretched tentacles froze in mid-air. Her massive body seemed to solidify as well. The swirling light in her compound eyes abruptly stopped, and countless tiny points of light focused on Jiang Chan, as if for the first time truly "seeing" her state clearly.
Jiang Chan's heart leaped into her throat, and she continued to let out that weak, wounded sob, her body shrinking even tighter.
Alyssa's tentacles slowly retracted. Her massive head turned towards the guards in the shadows, her compound eyes sweeping over them. The dark green guard who had just played the prank, along with several others, instinctively shrank back. Kazak stood a short distance away, his cold compound eyes observing everything without making a move or showing any emotion.
Alyssa's gaze returned to Jiang Chan. She seemed a little... flustered, a clumsy, unsure of what to do.
One of her antennae curled up unconsciously, while the other antennae groped around in the "air" beside her. Suddenly remembering something, she quickly rolled up a small pile of things that the worker insects had just brought and placed next to the cage. Among them was a purple fruit that looked like an apple.
The tentacle, coiled around a purple fruit, carefully and clumsily offered it to Jiang Chan. The fruit's skin was smooth and emitted a faint fruity fragrance.
Jiang Chan looked at the swaying fruit before her, then at Alyssa's large, now somewhat bewildered compound eyes. She took a deep breath, suppressing all her fear and trembling. This was the first step in attempting communication; it had to be clear.
She released her arms and slowly sat up. Her gaze didn't waver, meeting Alyssa's compound eyes directly. She raised a hand, pointing to the corroded hole, then to the direction of the Zerg guards in the shadows.
Her lips parted, and with all her might, she uttered a few clear syllables, each with a rhythm unique to human speech. The sound was not loud, but exceptionally firm:
"It hurts... I don't like... fighting..."
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the area deep within the palace where Alyssa's laboratory was located; it was quiet there now. She pointed in that direction again, then looked into Alyssa's eyes, trying to convey calmness and longing in her gaze:
"...I like...quiet!"
The last syllable falls.
Time seemed to stand still.
The ribbons of light flowing through the palace remained silent. The guards in the shadows stood like frozen sculptures. Kazak's body seemed to tremble very slightly.
The Zerg Queen, Alyssa, froze completely, her massive body covered in a hard, purplish-black carapace.
All the faint buzzing sounds disappeared. The tentacle wrapped with the purple fruit hung motionless in mid-air.
Her enormous, multifaceted compound eyes, filled with countless tiny points of light, now burst forth with an unprecedented and unbelievable brilliance, staring intently and unblinkingly at Jiang Chan's face, as if what she had just heard was not a few sobs and simple words, but the most incredible and mind-blowing sound since the birth of the universe...
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