After the Zerg General Was Accidentally Marked - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Date

Even though Everett’s emotions desperately hoped for option two, his logic remained clear: Solas was a clean, innocent female slave he had purchased himself.

It was just a small joke on Liam’s part. In fact, even without him saying it, the little high-rank could hear the meaning behind the military female’s words: their perceptions of the emotional relationship were different.

Or to put it more bluntly, it was a case of unrequited love.

The little high-rank hung his head dejectedly, guarding the optical-link chat box for a long time, and in the end, entered nothing.

Just then, the optical-link suddenly popped up a message from Bigu: I want to eat apples!

Buy them yourself if you want to eat them; I gave you star-coins. This interruption served as a timely distraction.

Spent it all!

Spent it all? They had given Bigu a limit of 1,000 star-coins, and he had already spent it all?!

Everett immediately clicked on the bill and was dazzled by a long list of messy, flashy purchase records.

Merit Wooden Fish Gun Decompression Artifact: Hit one insect, knock it once, guarantees peace of mind and completion of merit. Children’s toy, prank/spoof gadget, only 128!

Plush Chicken Bag “Ghost-Eyes” Bag: Sleepy Cluck-Cluck-Gugu little hen. Dual-use shoulder/crossbody, can hatch ordinary insect eggs, large size suitable for young cubs, experience the home-like warmth inside an eggshell, only 136!

DIY Custom Pillow: Custom-made insect-shaped pillow from your images. Alien-shaped pillow with membrane wings, pet pillow, “Ugly Insect” version with no white borders, only 199!

What on earth were these?!

“Little Dummy,” Everett immediately contacted the robot butler accompanying Bigu, “Why did Bigu spend so much? Why didn’t you stop him?”

“Master didn’t say to stop him,” Little Dummy defended.

It felt like a loophole had been exploited. Everett massaged his forehead. “Check Bigu’s orders. Anything the house doesn’t need for now too expensive, too weird cancel them all.”

“Then can I eat apples!” The little cub on the other end took the opportunity to join the call and howl.

“…Yes.”

Then Everett realized something. “Why didn’t you ask Solas about this? Why ask me?” Bigu was clearly closer to Solas.

“I asked the female brother, and he told me to ask you.”

These words instantly enlightened Everett. Solas told Bigu to ask him because they were still living together; legally, he was still the High-rank Master, physiologically the marking was still there, and they were currently raising a cub together.

No matter how you looked at it, he held every advantage of time, place, and insects.

Even if Solas refused, so what? Insects can change. If Solas could refuse, couldn’t Everett pursue him?

Setting his mind at ease, Everett first sent Bigu off, then clicked the chat box with Solas, scrolling up for a long time until he finally found the reason for their “chicken-and-duck” talk.

Due to signal problems, two messages hadn’t actually been sent!

Although it was only a difference of two sentences, the conversation had instantly shifted from mutual consent to malicious harassment.

Looking at those two sesame-sized red exclamation marks, Everett wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into!

But the little high-rank took a few deep breaths, tried to calm down, and sent a screenshot to Solas with a thorough explanation.

The other side replied quickly: Oh, I see.

Everett asked: Aren’t you angry?

It was a misunderstanding, not intentional. Why should I be angry?

Besides, you’ve apologized.

Just because I apologized, can the previous matter be wiped clean? Was the military female really this easy-going?

Not exactly. Let’s deal with things as they come.

After all, you are my High-rank Master.

I have to get to work. Let’s talk again when I get home tonight.

Okay! Today is Tuesday, I’ll be responsible for bringing food back.

By the way, Bigu bought a lot of messy things. Should we educate him?

After a while, he received a reply: Mhm. Find a way to send him to school.

Truly going to work now.

In the end, the two continued chatting as if nothing had happened, discussing daily trifles.

After all, the planet hadn’t exploded; life had to go on.

Even though disturbing Solas at work wasn’t great, at the thought of the usually serious military female peeping at the optical-link and “slacking off” to reply to his messages, Everett couldn’t help but hum a little tune.

Liam, looking at the little high-rank next to him whose expressions changed every second, was a bit worried: “…Are you okay?” Hadn’t he been wailing just now? How did he get happy again so fast?

Are F-grade high-ranks all like this?

“We’ve cleared things up; he doesn’t want to divorce me,” Everett explained. “He just doesn’t want to date me.”

Then he asked: “Have you seen The Overbearing High-rank Falls for Me? You’re a military female; do you think that routine works for winning over a military female?”

Liam took a sharp breath. “Forget it!”

“First of all, you’re extremely poor; you can’t be ‘overbearing’ at all!”

“Secondly, those things are exaggerated plots used to create brainless satisfaction! Who actually likes a greasy ‘overbearing CEO’?”

Makes sense.

“Then help me analyze it from a military female’s perspective. What kind of high-rank do you all like?”

Liam thought of his female father, who had to kneel before his high-rank father’s door begging for pheromones for a long time. He pursed his lips. “I think, as long as the high-rank gives pheromones on time and in sufficient quantity, that’s good enough.”

“It’s that simple?” Everett didn’t believe it.

“Very few high-ranks can actually do that.”

Everett was silent for a while before saying, “Isn’t that just a purely unfair transaction?”

Liam said as a matter of course: “It has always been thus.”

“I don’t like it,” Everett felt a bit stifled. “This isn’t what I want, either.”

But he was equally powerless to change it. He could only change the subject: “Do you military females like fresh flowers?”

“No. Expensive and useless. They are used by noble insects to show off.”

“Then… chocolate?”

“No. Sweet, greasy, and expensive.”

“Then… red wine?”

Liam hurriedly interrupted the little high-rank’s examples: “Stop asking me. Giving a gift should cater to the recipient’s tastes; see what they like. Or just give them something they use normally.”

What did Solas use normally? In Everett’s mind appeared those dazzling blue eyes, then immediately the black bite-guard below. Further down was the protruding Adam’s apple, the clear collarbones, the full chest muscles…

Everett quickly stopped his downward-sliding thoughts and returned to the face.

“…A bite-guard?”

“Huh?” Isn’t that a type of restraint? The little high-rank looks so innocent, but he plays that hard in private?

But regardless of how ghostly the gift choice was, seeing the little high-rank’s troubled expression while seriously choosing a gift, Liam actually felt a bit of envy. He had originally wondered why, being F-grade and useless except for his face, any military female would be willing to marry him.

Perhaps he provided a great deal of emotional value.

“You know you’re a very strange high-rank, right?”

“I know! I don’t belong to this world.”

Fine… high-ranks are indeed very confident. Liam opened his optical-link. “What is your military female’s profession and personality? I’ll help you search for a strategy.”

“A military female, very strong, big muscles, personality is quite… steady. Just standing there makes an insect feel at ease.”

Liam typed into the search bar: What gifts do dull military females like?

“How is he ‘dull’? Not at all…” Everett looked at the search results, then typed the same question into his own optical-link…

The results that came up were all adult products.

“Why are they different?”

“Information filtering for high-ranks, probably. Use a ‘wall-climbing’ software, change your sex to military female or sub-female, and you can find other results.”

The two insects were huddled together discussing when the optical-link suddenly received notifications from the company.

Liam received a job transfer notice, moving him to the finance department to assist in organizing previous company accounts.

Everett received an authorization notice; he had been granted Robert’s authority within the company, allowing him to directly view accounts and enter the laboratory.

Though he could have used the F account anyway, this made investigating in the open quite convenient.

Liam looked at the little high-rank in confusion: “…You did this?”

“Ah, yes,” Everett nodded. “Aren’t you a finance graduate? It’s the perfect chance to use your professional advantage.”

But the expected gratitude did not arrive; instead: “I was perfectly fine guarding the door, it was an idle job. Now that I’m transferred to finance, I have to actually work!”

“Ah…” Everett was a bit dazed. “You don’t want to work?”

It wasn’t exactly that he didn’t want to. But Liam felt this wasn’t what he should be doing. As his female father had always taught him, he should find a high-rank as soon as possible, marry, mark, have eggs, and focus on household affairs, rather than wasting time working seriously.

“If you don’t want to go to finance…”

“No, I’ll… I’ll try it!”

“Thanks.”

Though the thanks came hesitantly and awkwardly.

Everett didn’t mind and went to the laboratory alone after getting the authority.

According to Magic Lamp Company regulations, every branch must be equipped with at least one dedicated laboratory. It was used to inspect and analyze every batch of reagents arriving or produced, ensuring no quality issues occurred in sold products. It also provided timely after-sales analysis.

In truth, the laboratory was where Everett felt most familiar and comfortable. Before he founded the Magic Lamp Company, he had spent thousands of days and nights in such laboratories just to find a way to repair his mental power defect.

He succeeded, which was why Kalatin and the Magic Lamp Company existed today.

The little high-rank turned on the lights, put on a lab coat, and activated the intelligent optical-link system in the lab with his account: Chaos.

“Good afternoon, Little Idiot.”

“I prefer the other title, Master.” In its personality settings, Chaos had a bit more… humor than Little Dummy, so it sounded more human.

“I prefer this nickname. And I am the master.” Everett ruthlessly refuted Chaos’s protest, then checked the rows of Kalatin reagents stored here.

These were samples kept for batch testing. Every reagent tube had a serial number representing its production date, batch, location, components, and test results.

Everett didn’t find the one in his memory. He breathed a small sigh of relief.

“Little Idiot, help me query a production code: 41-368729-41795387-2639.”

This was the production code for one of the boxes of reagents he saw on the ship. Thanks to his eidetic memory, he could still recite it.

“Querying—”

“Company system query results show this code belongs to a batch of Kalatin reagents produced on the planet Epats on September 13, Star Calendar 691. A total of 100,000 vials. They were robbed by star pirates on September 26, with no subsequent records.”

Everett remembered. That time the factory was almost cleaned out, and the company nearly went bankrupt; they only survived because Chaos applied for a loan.

It was also after that robbery that Everett spent money to hire professional mercenaries to wipe out all the star pirates in the vicinity. Since then, no large-scale theft of Kalatin reagents had occurred.

But the reagents stolen back then had never been recovered.

So, they had been secretly shipped here.

Who did it? Why ship them to the Transit Star? What were they going to be used for? Were there others besides the ones on the ship? Did Admiral Sears’s “defection” have anything to do with the illegal transport of Kalatin?

Everett still had no answers. It was like pulling a thread only to find a tangled mess.

The only good news was that since the unidentified Kalatin reagents were stolen a long time ago, the Magic Lamp Company might not be involved in this.

It better not be. After all, it was his company; if there was anything wrong, it was his responsibility.

Thinking carefully, Everett had been an “idle boss” for a long time.

“Little Idiot, turn off the surveillance here. Then pull up the important documents you handled for the headquarters over the past two months.” Time to get to work.

Unwittingly, it was time to get off work. There were too many documents to finish; he could only continue tomorrow.

Everett changed his clothes. Just as he came out of the laboratory, his optical-link bracelet suddenly popped up a special notification tone:

You have received a date invitation. Do you accept?

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