Chapter 44—why does it look so much like the one standing to the right of the blond marshal…?
The more composed female insect standing to the right of the blond marshal objected, "Eddie, His Majesty wants us to go back as soon as possible. Let's not cause any more trouble. The insects in the Chaotic Starfield are not as simple as you think."
The female insect, whose personality was clearly more unconventional, stood to the left of the blond marshal and said in an annoyed tone, "Tsk, Pullman, why do you always like to contradict me? His Excellency the Marshal hasn't even said anything yet."
Melville didn't speak, but instead stared intently at the small starship on the screen.
He only snapped out of his reverie when he heard the two insects arguing. He raised his hand and said calmly, "Let's turn back."
The peace talks between the two countries are scheduled to begin soon, and a lot of time has already been wasted. He must get back to Hawthorne's side as soon as possible.
For some reason, he was always particularly interested in that small starship, not because of his superb piloting skills, but because of a certain insect inside the starship. He couldn't explain why.
Just before returning to base, a large communication invitation suddenly popped up on the screen in front of me, with the source indicating that it was from nearby.
Eddie leaned over, intrigued. "Hmm? We were all planning to let them go, but they've come looking for us?"
Should we pick it up?
Should we answer the call? It's not really a question. There's an 80-90% chance the other party is sending a message saying they're nearby and can answer, but the person they're talking to might not actually be them.
But for no reason at all, as if his heart was faster than his brain, Melville did not stop Eddie from answering the call.
Normally, he should have ordered them to leave immediately, but for some reason, a voice inside him kept telling him that he absolutely had to see the bug on that little starship, or he would definitely regret it.
"Hahaha, Barney, you little punk, did you enjoy the shelling? Your ass's blown open, isn't it..."
Doris opened the communication and started spewing trash talk, but after only a couple of sentences, her arrogant voice caught in her throat.
Because the person on the other end of the communication line wasn't Barney, but the cold-faced commander of the Imperial military.
Oh dear, in his excitement, he forgot that besides the Crimson Planet Pirates, the Imperial Fleet was also on the surrounding channels…
That's it, Talos will curse him to death.
The first thing that caught the eye in the transmitted images was this female insect, who looked excited, swore a lot, and was dressed casually and loosely, a typical example of the chaotic starry sea style.
Looking closer to him, there was a young black-haired insect standing slightly to the side, a smile on his lips, but his face was very sinister. He was not speaking at the moment, and the green-eyed female insect standing next to him was anxiously trying to comfort him.
"Calm down, calm down. That starship won't last long before it crashes. There's no need to chase it alone. I've already tracked down the crash site. This battlefield ruin is quite new; maybe we can find something good this time."
Talos forced a smile and tried his best to appease him. You should know that he hadn't been this good-tempered in a long time, and he could even say strange words like "the ruins are fresh" without changing his expression. He was really thinking about his life.
This strange insect wasn't satisfied with the cannonballs and planned to take out a small airship to fight the real insects. Good heavens, the most important thing now is to get out of there as soon as possible. The imperial army is still nearby. If they don't like it and fire a cannonball, their little broken ship can't withstand the impact of their high-tech weaponry.
Before Talos could even settle things, Doris had already caused another mess, directly escalating the conflict with the Imperial army. He wished he could just explode on the spot, scatter into countless pieces, and escape as far away from these idiots as possible.
He yelled at the blockhead, "Doris, what are you standing there for? Shut down the communications and run! Are you planning to get blasted to dust?"
"Oh, oh..." Doris hurriedly shut down the communication, then "snap" pressed full speed ahead, and the starship shot far away in an instant.
Things happened very quickly; the image lasted for less than half a minute, but it was enough for Melville to see the appearance of the dark-haired young insect.
How could they be so similar?
...
Finally, after Talos's patient persuasion, the black-haired monster finally gave up on soloing offline and instead followed his advice to take a detour to the crash site of the starship.
The black-haired worm smiled. "Thank you, I'm much better now. I think I accidentally broke your joystick. Is that alright?"
Talos immediately shook his head. How could he dare to say there was a connection when faced with that light-toned but sinister face? Even if there was a connection, he had to make it seem like there wasn't.
It's pathetic that he, the leader of the Pure White Pirates, has fallen so low as to be afraid to express his anger and has to appease insects with a kind face.
"Talos, am I alright here too...?"
At that moment, a sheepish voice came from behind Talos.
Taros paused, slowly turning his head with a clatter, his face contorted as if flames were engulfing him. He said in a "gentle" tone, "Come to the training ground. If I don't see you within five minutes, you'll face the consequences."
"You, you're bullying the weak and fearing the strong!"
"So what if I teased you?"
"Ouch! Gently, gently!"
...
The route was winding and circuitous; without Talos's guidance, it would have been difficult to find the crash site that Barney had specifically chosen. This was clearly one of their small outposts.
Under the astonished gazes of Talos and Doris, the black-haired worm leaped off the starship with remarkable agility, using the wrecked hull beneath it to cushion its fall and land on the ground after a few bounds.
They didn't even open their wings; that shows how confident they are in their strength.
The Crimson Starship's hull must have been the last to fall directly from the sky without any cushioning, creating a large crater in the ground. The hull itself was severely damaged, with the largest part still burning fiercely, while the escape pods scattered around it flew non-stop into the distance.
As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn. Barney huddled in the escape pod, panting heavily. As long as he survived, he would surely slaughter the Pure Whites one day to avenge today's humiliation...
In an instant, he suddenly sensed something was wrong. The escape pods that had scattered out were all frozen in mid-air, including his own. What kind of strange force was this? Without any support, they just stopped in mid-air.
Why run?
The cheerful melody seemed to explode right next to their ears, penetrating the escape pods and resounding inside each one.
The magnetic field must be caused by magnetic field disorder. Barney suddenly pressed the sprint button on the escape pod. The escape pod moved forward quickly as he wished, but was quickly pulled back to its original position, making Barney, who was sitting inside, spin around several times.
Many escape pods around them made similar movements, but they were all trapped in place, like prey struggling in a spider web, the more they struggled, the tighter the web became.
"..."
"Found you." This escape pod was the largest and most luxurious, and the emotions inside were the most intense.
Through the transparent window of the escape pod, Barney suddenly made eye contact with the black-haired monster standing below. The black-haired monster looked at him and suddenly grinned.
Barney's escape pod was dragged to the ground separately. The black-haired monster stepped on the escape pod and used the scalpel in its hand to pierce through the glass window of the escape pod.
Barney's eyes hardened, and he tried to eject from the escape pod on his own, but he found that he couldn't even eject his claws. His entire body was just like the escape pod before, unable to move at all.
At that moment, the sharp scalpel was already stopped in front of him...
"Monster...monster..."
Barney's eyes held an eternal terror, and he fell into a deep sleep from which he would never awaken.
"Rubbish."
By the time Talos and his group arrived, all they could see was a pile of insect fragments and the black-haired monster insect itself, looking utterly miserable.
The black-haired monster was wiping the scalpel with a strip of cloth it had found somewhere. Its expression was hard to describe, but it was much better than when it had just gone down.
Tsk, there's nothing of value on its body, what's the point of living for such a thing?
He seemed somewhat uninterested, even uninterested in the escape pods he had gathered in the air; he simply dragged them all to the ground and handed them over to Talos and the other insects to deal with.
However, seeing that the black-haired monster's aura had finally improved, Talos secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He directed his men to count the prisoners and, incidentally, to look for anything useful in the surrounding area.
Just then, Talos saw the black-haired worm that was walking into the starship suddenly stop and tilt its head in a certain direction.
What happened again?
Talos looked in that direction, but couldn't see anything.
When he turned around and looked at the black-haired monster again, he almost popped his eyes out.
Suddenly, the black-haired monster raised its hand and, without hesitation, used a scalpel to cut open the skin on the back of its left wrist. Bright red blood gushed out, but it seemed to feel no pain at all. It even probed the tip of the scalpel into the wound and dug out a small black chip.
What's going on? Is it a robotic insect? It actually has a chip inside its body?
The black-haired monster held up the small chip to the sunlight with its uninjured right hand. Drops of blood were still dripping from the chip, but it seemed oblivious to them. Instead, it grinned, its eyes narrowing with laughter. "Ah, how interesting. I actually have something like this on me."
Then, Talos saw him suddenly turn around, holding the object, and rush towards a corner, his white coat fluttering in the wind, demonstrating his incredible speed.
Having witnessed his skills, speed, and strength, Talos felt that even without that strange power, he and Doris wouldn't have been able to defeat the black-haired monster. Instead, they might have ended up on the operating table due to their fierce resistance.
In a way, they've been having pretty good luck lately, well, at least better than Barney.
The destination was a small escape pod, which now had a gap in it. The insect inside was unconscious and clearly unable to get out on its own.
Doris, who had been instructed by Talos to follow closely behind, saw the black-haired worm stop in front of the small escape pod. A slightly amused expression appeared on his face. He looked at the small black piece in his hand, then at the damaged escape pod, or rather, at the worm inside the escape pod.
He wanted to go up and help, thinking it was an insect he knew from before, but the black-haired insect was a step ahead of him. He reached in through the broken part and then used brute force to pry open the escape pod.
It's open.
Alright...
Doris: OoO.
The escape pod was designed with the dangers of being accidentally opened in space in mind. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to pry open the escape pod by force unless it is opened normally from the inside. It would take at least three or four female insects working together to do so. Could this strange insect be a female insect of a higher level than S-class?
His gaze quickly fell on the insect that the strange insect might recognize. After the escape pod opened, the insect inside was exposed. Its face was no longer clearly visible because it seemed to have suffered severe cosmic radiation. Its hair had fallen out in large quantities, and its face had strange bumps of varying degrees.
Honestly, if it weren't for a familiar worm, Doris definitely wouldn't have been able to bring herself to save him.
However, the black-haired monster didn't shy away at all, and simply carried the insect out horizontally, seemingly wanting to take him back to the ship for treatment.
Doris followed along leisurely. "Boss, do you know him?"
The black-haired worm said, "I don't recognize it."
"No, you don't know him?"
Doris almost choked on her own saliva. Didn't she mind that she didn't recognize him?
"His bones are beautiful."
Oh, so it's a collectible that was brought from afar.
That's not surprising.
The black-haired worm, also known as Morfield, didn't say anything more. He believed that there must be some connection between him and the worm, even though he didn't remember anything about it. But he always did what he wanted and saved it whenever he felt like it.
Once this insect wakes up, perhaps he can interrogate it about the origin of the black chip. If it weren't for this thing guiding him, he might not have been able to find this insect.
And the fact that this black chip could be embedded into his flesh without him even noticing... there's definitely going to be an interesting story behind this, I can't wait!
...
When news of the complete annihilation of Barney's Second Fleet arrived, Marcus, the captain of the Crimson Pirates, had just emerged from the ship's secret chamber. The Crimson Pirates' expansion had recently slowed down, which had earned him a reprimand from that person, leaving him looking rather grim. Now, upon receiving news of the loss of his forces, his expression darkened even further.
"That idiot Barney, I knew something like this was bound to happen sooner or later."
If there weren't so few bugs available, Barney wouldn't have been chosen as the captain of the Second Fleet. However, Marcus's face was grim. "Being chased and beaten by the Empire's bugs is one thing, but what is Pure White anyway? How dare he provoke us like this? It seems he's tired of living."
We haven't even had a chance to settle accounts with them for the theft of 5 boxes of pheromones last time. Now, with both old and new grudges combined, if we don't destroy Pure White, won't the Crimson become easy prey for the insects in this chaotic star sea? What will they have left then?
He coldly ordered, "Find the location of Pure White, launch a full-scale attack, this time we must annihilate them in one fell swoop..."
But before he could finish speaking, the sound of artillery shells reached his ears.
It wasn't just one or two scattered bombs, but a large-scale bombardment. Even his flagship began to rock and become unstable, instantly throwing Marcus from the doorway onto another wall. Keep in mind, this was a warship he had specially acquired to be relegated to a secondary role.
"What's going on?" Marcus yelled into the wartime communications channel.
Soon, a bug replied, "The Imperial army is attacking!"
Imperial Army? Didn't they always give careful instructions not to provoke the Imperial Army? No, wait, what a mess Barney made of. Could it be that he attacked the main fleet because he didn't manage to wipe out the Second Fleet himself?
hateful.
"Retreat! Retreat now!"
...
Imperial Fleet Main Operations Room.
Ever since Melville saw that young black-haired insect, that face had always occupied his mind. Other insects might just feel familiar, but he had known Hawthorne since he was a child and had come this far. There was no way he could mistake Hawthorne's face when he was young.
But precisely because they had known each other for a long time, he was certain that Hawthorne could not have had an illegitimate child outside the marriage. However, he and Hawthorne only had two children, Loxsis and Lowein. Could they have been the product of a scheme?
The small starship escaped quickly, and time did not allow him to continue the pursuit. He could only send a small team to follow it quietly. He was in a bit of a panic. Before he knew the exact result, he instinctively did not want to lose track of the child.
But before that, he could do something along the way.
"Let's go, Crimson Headquarters." Although there's no time to wipe them out in one fell swoop, we can still manage to keep them at rest and prevent them from causing trouble.
Eddie's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together, eager to get started. "Wow! We're finally going to pull off something big! My bones are practically rusting!"
...
"Talos, are we really okay if we don't run? We accidentally got wiped out by the Crimson Pirates' second fleet. I feel like I'll see their massive main fleet the moment I open my eyes tomorrow." Doris, with a bruised and swollen face and slurred speech, still managed to get close to Talos.
"Shut up." Talos closed his eyes to rest, clearly not wanting to talk to him.
Talos certainly wanted to run away too. Their current size was not on the same level as Crimson's, so they could only fight guerrilla warfare. A head-on confrontation would only result in them being reduced to ashes.
But, did he not want to run away?
He watched as the starship stopped at yet another battlefield ruin. The black-haired monster, with its bouncy steps, was as cheerful as ever. Having witnessed its absolute power, Talos no longer harbored any thoughts of escape.
Fine, let the Crimson Planet Pirates come. If they can win, great; if not, they're finished...
"Where is the largest trading market in the Chaotic Star Sea? I need to go buy some things."
Murphy was a little troubled. If he didn't save it soon, the insect he had picked up seemed to be going to die. Ah, raising insects is such a hassle. Why can't insects be as easy to care for as collectibles?
Talos was utterly devastated.
Okay, let's go wherever the excitement is.
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Author's Note: Thank you AAA for the gift! Love you! *kissing sounds* [heart eyes][starry eyes][cheers]
Thank you to "Clear Sky," "Shangcheng," and "Soaring Clouds" for the nutrient solution! [Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Keep it up!]
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