Chapter 523: Loyalty and Love
"Why isn't there even a shower facility here?"
Caesar and the others were about to help Anno wash up when they discovered there was no place to take a bath in the house.
At this moment, several members of the Giant Tree Clan handed some clothes and toiletries to Qingmu and the other divine servants. Qingmu, holding the clean clothes, walked behind them and said, "My Lord, please follow me."
After saying that, Aoki led them out of the back door of the treehouse, along a clean path paved with stone bricks, past several large trees, and to a pond.
The water in the pool flows down from one side of the stone wall. The water is clean and clear, and the water flows into the pool along several stone statues on the stone wall.
The area around the pool is well-maintained, with various stone statues and some pretty little lights on.
Aoki said to Anno, "My Lord, you may bathe here. This is our purest holy spring."
Anno didn't really feel like this was a place to take a bath.
However, Aoki was right to say that they should wash here, as she didn't see any other places with water, except for the few forest streams they passed before entering the Giant Tree Clan's territory.
But the water in that stream was black, just like the corrosive rain falling from the sky. The forest and the creatures living in it had been corroded by this black rain, and the water was probably polluted just as well.
Aoki stepped forward to help Anno take a bath, but Caesar and Mingxiao stopped him. Mingxiao glared at them and said, "Your Highness is fine with us serving you. You may leave."
He's just a second-class dependent, yet he dares to serve His Highness. If he were one of their Shadow Insect Clan, he would have been chopped down long ago for such overstepping his bounds.
Aoki was clearly not afraid of them, ignoring them completely and keeping his eyes fixed on Anno.
By this time, Bai Yan had already helped her take off her sticky clothes, and she had entered the pool. The warm water made her breathe a sigh of relief.
Seeing that Aoki and the others looked ready to fight Caesar and his group again, Anno lay down by the pool and said to them, "You all go down, Caesar can stay here."
Aoki lowered his eyes, placed the things aside, bowed respectfully to Anno, and turned to leave.
As soon as they left, Anno sighed deeply, sank into the pool for a moment, and then surfaced again. She smoothed her wet hair and said, "If only there were gold sand, but the conditions here are already quite good enough for a proper bath."
Caesar knelt down beside her, picked up her long hair and helped her wash it. "Your Highness, do you wish to stay here?"
Anno looked up at him and said, "Let's stay here for now and learn about their race. Feixing and the Dark Light Queen's idea is to take them down in the simplest way possible."
Caesar picked up a bottle of light green shampoo, squeezed it into his palm, and applied it to Anno's hair, saying, "The simplest way for King Flying Star and Queen Dark Light to convey their meaning is Your Highness."
Anno turned around and lay down beside her, saying, "I'm not quite sure either. Your abilities have all been sealed here, but mine can still be used. Although I can help them purify, the environment here has been polluted and damaged. With my strength alone, I can purify it for a while, but it can't go on like this forever."
Upon hearing this, Caesar paused for a moment. "Your Highness, do you mean you intend to continue helping them? You want the two races to reunite?"
Anno said, "I hadn't actually thought about asking that before. It was just a natural urge to help them. Those contaminated creatures are the same as ours in Sivitlo. I didn't sense any hostility or aggression from them."
She paused for a moment and then said, "Perhaps, as the king of the Zerg, he naturally has a desire to protect his people. I think... I think they are the same as us."
Caesar said, "Your Highness, the Shadow Insects are very hostile towards us. If Your Highness is not here, they will not show any mercy to us, nor will they show any mercy to us."
Anno found it strange, "Caesar, you're also a Queen Insect now, do you feel different from me?"
Caesar gently rubbed her hair, his long fingers massaging her scalp. "Your Highness, I wish I could feel the same way you do, but all I can sense is their hostility. I don't like them either, but..."
Anno looked up at him: "But what?"
Caesar wiped the water droplets from her forehead. "But I feel like I'm a lot like them. I think my dislike for them is different from Mingxiao's."
Caesar bent down and leaned closer to Anno, whispering, "Your Highness, I can understand what they are saying."
A hint of surprise flashed across Anno's eyes, but then she remembered that Caesar also had a core, which should be the same as hers. She couldn't understand their language, but she could sense the meaning they expressed from their consciousness and gradually understand their language.
That's what she thought, but Caesar stroked her face and said again, "Your Highness, I can understand their language."
“Your Highness, I can feel that I am very similar to them.”
Caesar repeated what he had told Anno twice. Anno was stunned for a moment before she realized what he meant. She grabbed his hand and said, "You..."
At that moment, Fei Xing's voice rang in her mind, "Dark Light, you were right after all, his genes are closer to those of the Shadow Zerg."
Darklight said, "But he is still the king of the Shadow Insects; he is the shadow tamed by Anunu."
Anno and Caesar stared at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say.
Perhaps because her feelings about the Shadow Insects differed from those of her kin, she didn't have much of a feeling about whether Caesar was a branch of the Shadow Insects or the Light Insects.
But if one day the Shadow Bugs want to invade Sivitro and plunder its planet and resources for survival and resources, she will always stand on the side of the Light Bugs.
Caesar gazed at Anno and said slowly, "Your Highness, I only care about you."
"Shut up!"
Anno interrupted him.
This was clearly a statement expressing his feelings for her, but Anno was horrified when she heard it, and she even severed Caesar's mental network.
She grabbed his wrist and said, "You can't just care about me, do you understand?"
"Caesar, whether you like it or not, you are now the Overlord. What you are protecting is not just me, but the entire Zerg."
Caesar smiled slightly and placed his hand on Anno's head. "Your Highness, you've grown up."
Anno sighed, his eyes filled with helplessness as he looked at him. "I knew it. Why are you so different from the other family members? I was always afraid that you would become a heretic and be killed by Mother. Now it seems that everything has a reason."
Caesar raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "Your Highness, I am now more of a concern to Her Majesty than to Her Majesty becoming a heretic."
One of them is very likely the Shadow Bug Queen. If Sevier and Augsis knew, they would probably be terrified, since Anno is practically in their hands now.
But right now, neither of them has any concept of venturing into the tiger's den, nor does the other have any concept of possibly being the king of the Shadow Zerg.
Things became very delicate, and Fei Xing didn't dare to think about it too deeply. Should they be glad that Caesar was raised by Augsis and the others? If he had joined forces with the Shadow Insects along the way, it was hard to say whether the Shadow Insects would have used him for something.
Darklight, however, was unconvinced. "What's there to be afraid of? If you throw a newborn Shadow Zerg into Sivitro, it will grow up to be a Light Zerg. We are essentially the same."
Fei Xing said, "But their desire to break out of the consciousness network and make their thoughts independent has been ingrained in their genes, which greatly increases the probability that they will become heretics."
Dark Light said, "Isn't that simpler? Just deal with it directly."
"..." Fei Xing chuckled dryly twice.
Anunu then spoke to the two of them through the consciousness network: "Flying Star, Your Majesty, you don't need to worry. If Caesar does anything to betray us, I will be the first to act."
She is the highest-ranking Overlord in the Zerg race. Whether it is her familiars or male Zerg Overlords, she can use the Overlord Effect to directly lock onto their consciousness and core.
The Ohmu can deal with any of its followers who betray it.
Hearing Anunu's words, Fei Xing was somewhat surprised. He had been by Anunu's side for so long and had watched her grow up. In the past, she had always been very protective of Caesar, which could be considered a bit biased.
He was genuinely surprised that she could now say she would be the first to act if Caesar betrayed him.
Darklight was very pleased. "Anunu has grown up. But it's okay if Anunu doesn't want to fight. We will never tolerate any act of betrayal against the Zerg."
Anno thought to herself that Caesar wouldn't do that, not only because Caesar was loyal to her, but also because she understood what kind of person he was through other things.
Before she returned to the Zerg, he was always the vanguard of the Zerg. In any battle, he was always the first to charge. He would share his energy ore with Mingxiao so that she could hatch, and he always took good care of her.
His clones have given him a wealth of experiences, and he has endured so much suffering. This will allow him to better understand himself and the Zerg.
His biggest hurdle was the period when he transformed into the Queen Insect. He thought he was a heretic, but his loyalty and love for her made him want to take the throne from Sitar. However, it was also his loyalty and love for her that made him give up.
He no longer cares about his true identity, whether he is in the light or the shadow. He knows where he came from, who raised him, who taught him, and who he should be loyal to and follow.
From the moment he was born, the moment his consciousness connected with the vast and boundless network of consciousness, his life became clear and distinct.
He might go astray or do wrong things along the way, but Princess Anunu, who always stands in front of him, pulls him like a thread, leading him onto the right path, and he will always follow her behind him until the end of his life.
Anno reached out and pinched Caesar's chin, propping his head up with one hand, and said, "Take off your clothes, I want to see your insect pattern."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com