After the Zerg General Was Accidentally Marked - Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Saving an Insect

“What?!” The little high-rank’s brows furrowed deeply, his dissatisfaction evident. “Are you making this joke on purpose because you saw him say that a female attendant would be happy to see me date him?”

“That’s not funny!”

“I’m not joking…”

“Then what does it mean?! I told you, I applied for the ‘Female Attendant’ status only because the optical-link system didn’t allow for ‘Female Sovereign’ yet! Even if you don’t like me right now, you don’t have to be in such a hurry to push me onto another insect, do you?”

Sears tried to be reasonable. “He explicitly stated in the message that he wants to handle the cargo company’s compensation. If you don’t go, he will likely trip us up. Moreover, we still don’t know if there was a deliberate ‘insect-made’ factor in the cargo ship crash. Walter is the commander of the stationed troops here; he can certainly find out.”

But now was clearly not the time for calm logic. The little high-rank stood up, glaring down at Sears sitting on the sofa. Because his back was to the light, his golden eyes were shaded, giving off a genuine sense of threat and pressure. “I don’t care! Legally, I am still your high-rank master! How can you ask me to go out on a date with someone else?!”

However, Sears had long ago seen through the little high-rank’s nature Everett hadn’t even let go of the hand interlaced with his so he wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. But seeing the bedroom door crack open, with Bigu and Little Dummy peeking out, Sears wanted to end this misunderstanding-induced quarrel as quickly as possible.

Thus, his voice softened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you to another insect. I want you to be the high-rank master of only one military female me.”

Everett’s brows gradually smoothed out, clearly moved by those words.

“I just hope you can pretend to date him to extract intelligence.”

The brows furrowed again. “You want me to use ‘honey-trap’ tactics to exchange for intel?”

Why did the words sound so different coming from the little high-rank’s mouth? “It’s not a honey-trap. It’s a date in a public place; he won’t do anything to you.”

“And what if he wants to hold my hand? Or touch me? Or kiss me? What then?” Everett looked troubled. “After all, I’m just a weak, frail little high-rank.”

Sears didn’t believe a single word from a “weak” high-rank with a six-pack. “If he actually tries anything, you can call the police directly. The law enforcement robots will sanction him.”

“But the risk is still high…” Then Everett’s tone shifted. “To convince me to execute this dating mission, what conditions can you agree to?”

So, that’s what he was waiting for. Sears found it a bit funny but didn’t call him out. “What do you want me to agree to?”

And so, the date was settled. Saturday, at a high-end restaurant in the Central District.

To prevent Sears from forgetting, Everett specifically took a screenshot and sent it to him: 11:30 AM, don’t forget!

In order to make Everett “execute the mission” willingly, Sears had to sign a series of “unequal treaties.”

These included, but were not limited to: all wounds on the wings and back must be handled by the little high-rank; they must sleep in the master bedroom together at night; Sears must give advance notice if he’s coming home late after work; and so on.

They were all things that seemed overbearing but were actually beneficial to Sears.

Letting the little high-rank handle the wounds was because the result of having Bigu and Little Dummy help yesterday was too disastrous; sleeping on the bed in the bedroom instead of the sofa in the living room was because the bed was larger and more comfortable, so he wouldn’t fall off just by rolling over; coming home early after work… that was also quite normal.

Sears agreed to them one by one.

The new life on the transit star unfolded in an orderly fashion. During the day, the two adults went out to work, Little Dummy was responsible for housekeeping, shopping, and cleaning, and even the little cub was finally packed off to a military female kindergarten.

In the evenings, the family of three plus the robot ate dinner, chatted, played games, and watched the news together. After the bustling and noisy time, they washed up and went to sleep. It was a most ordinary life of daily trifles.

To be honest, Sears was somewhat unaccustomed to it. It was like a string that had been tensed for many years suddenly relaxing.

One had to remember, to the official government, he was still a major wanted fugitive!

In these past few days, Sears had completely mastered the cleaning work at the tower. He also easily obtained so-called “internal information” from the big-mouthed Ma’en.

For some reason, Dean, the captain of the tower communications team, could obtain low-priced Kalatin—the price was only one-tenth of the market price.

Sears immediately thought of the unidentified Kalatin reagents on the cargo ship. According to Everett, those reagents were stolen by star pirates two years ago. After so long, why were they shipped here? Was the low-priced Kalatin Dean was selling from that batch?

And did this have anything to do with the disappearance cases he was investigating before his accident?

Sears tried to probe Dean several times, but since they weren’t very close, the other was very cautious and revealed nothing.

Sears could only choose to build a good relationship with him first. Because besides investigating the Kalatin reagents through him, Sears also needed the captain’s permission to be on night watch alone in the tower.

To contact his subordinates far away in Sector H, he needed an opportunity to be alone.

This morning, Sears clocked in for work on time. As soon as he entered the office, he found a group of military females gathered around, doing something unknown.

“One more…” “Wow! So impressive!” “Sham is so good! Here, have a candy!” There were even occasional bursts of applause and laughter.

What was going on? Sham? Sears hadn’t heard that name; was he a newcomer?

When he parted the crowd and stepped forward, he saw a little cub surrounded in the middle and finally understood. Oh, they were teasing a cub.

It was a blond, blue-eyed little cub, only about two or three years old, with a chubby face and a carved, jade-like appearance. He hadn’t entered his first differentiation yet, so he still had fleshy antennae on his head. This cute appearance was exactly what triggered the protection instinct in military females.

No wonder the military females wouldn’t leave him. The little cub was performing backflips; with every flip, the military females would cheer and clap in sync, making the little cub giggle.

Sears felt a softness in his chest, and he couldn’t help but smile under his bite-guard. He hadn’t seen such a small, healthy, and cute cub in a long time. But since the other insects in the team shouldn’t have high-rank masters, he asked the person next to him: “Whose cub is this?”

“The captain’s,” one military female answered. Seeing the newcomer’s surprise, he added, “Found him; he’s basically his younger brother.”

Sears also played with the little cub for a while, giving away the small biscuits he had confiscated from Bigu. Then he quickly changed into his work clothes and went to the roof.

Normally, Sears’s work didn’t take much time, but today was different. He needed to assist an engineer in replacing a communication mast.

This was a universal support pole made of carbon steel, about fifty centimeters in diameter, thirty-seven meters high, and weighing 1.5 tons. It needed to be replaced because it had exceeded its service life.

Sears was halfway through dismantling it when he realized he needed a special wrench to remove the expansion bolts. He informed the engineer and went back to fetch the toolbox.

But when he returned and just stepped onto the open-air rooftop area, he suddenly heard a scream from above: “Wah—!”

Sears’ heart tightened it was the cub’s voice! He looked up and saw a small shadow clinging to the very top of that communication mast!

How did the little cub sneak into the tower work area? And when did he climb up?!

But he had no time to think because the little cub was terrified up there, and as the wind blew, the counterweight became unbalanced. Since the mast was already in a dismantled state, it tilted and came crashing down with a dull, creaking groan!

Damaging equipment was a small matter, but from this height, when the mast hit the roof, the little cub at the tip would definitely be suspended over the edge of the building and then flung out by the force of the impact. This was a building over thirty stories high; the cub couldn’t fly, and falling would mean certain death!

“Save the insect!!!” The engineer over there had clearly discovered the little cub too, shouting anxiously, but his position sounded further away than Sears’s, and he had no wings.

Sears threw down the toolbox and sprinted out in one bound!

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The mast tilted slowly amidst the cub’s heart-wrenching cries. While Sears ran forward, he tore off his top and unfolded his blood-stained, mangled wings.

Sharp stabs of pain radiated from his back, but Sears had no time for anything else. Borrowing the gliding speed of his wings, he finally reached the falling mast. Just as it was about to hit the rooftop floor, he caught it with his shoulders and back!

When the mast struck his back, Sears heard a crisp crack. It was the sound of the base of his wing being snapped!

The military female’s figure shuddered for a moment, then while soothing the little cub, he slowly rotated the angle of the mast. He didn’t let go of the mast until there was solid ground beneath the little cub.

As soon as the cub landed, he ran toward him, wailing loudly.

Sears felt a relief in his heart. He reached back and touched his back; sure enough, it was covered in blood. Then he tried to retract his wings. One side succeeded, the other… gave no response.

Sears’ heart sank, but he kept the one wing propped up, wiped the blood from his hands onto his clothes, and carefully comforted the cub clutching his leg, “It’s okay, it’s okay…”

The engineer from the other side also hurried over. He looked at the unretracted wing behind Sears and asked with some alarm: “Your wing… it’s covered in blood. Are you okay?”

Soon, the other team members who heard the noise came up too. After Dean heard what happened, he gave the little cub a scolding, “Are you going to run off again! Are you going to climb again! Do you know you almost lost your life just now!”

During this time, Sears finally managed to manually retract the half-wing with the help of other military females.

After Dean finished scolding the cub, he led him to Sears. “Thank you for saving my brother…”

Then he tugged the cub’s fleshy hand, “Say thank you quickly.”

The little cub thanked him while crying, his snot bubbles coming out, his words not yet clear: “Tha… nk… you… ugh…”

“Your wing—is it because you saved Sham that…?” Sham was the little cub, Dean’s brother’s name.

Sears shook his head. “No, it was injured before and never healed. I mentioned it when I was hired.”

Dean remembered that he indeed had mentioned it. “Is it because of your high-rank master?”

Sears had discovered during this time that the military females of the tower team had a considerable misunderstanding of Everett for some reason. They seemed convinced that Everett was very cruel to him. The more he explained and defended, the more these military females pitied him and hated the little high-rank. Later, he simply gave up.

Regardless, these military females would not meet the little high-rank anyway.

And strictly speaking, the wing injury was indeed because of Everett.

So Sears responded candidly: “Yes.”

“Should we find a doctor to take a look? Not all military females have wings, but those who do cherish them very much.” But Solas’s once beautiful and grand wings… looked like they were about to be ruined. Even Dean felt it was a pity.

“Is there a trustworthy doctor here who can treat a military female’s wings?”

Dean fell silent. The problem of how difficult it is for a military female to get medical treatment existed everywhere.

“You saved my brother. Is there anything… I can help with?” Dean thought the new military female would definitely ask about the Kalatin reagent; he had already probed about it several times, both overtly and covertly. And with grade decay, only Kalatin could treat it.

Since he saved his brother, if he asked, Dean would sell him a few vials at a low price.

To his surprise, the military female thought for a moment and asked: “Can you arrange for me to take a few night shifts alone? Holidays are fine too.”

“I want to earn more money.” Shift hours were linked to salary.

Then the military female wearing the bite-guard gave a slight smile and said: “I have a cub at home, too.”

Hearing this, Dean felt as if his heart had been hit hard, thinking: I am really a goddamn monster!!!

“No problem.” Dean agreed immediately, then said: “I’ll take you somewhere this weekend.”

“There are free Kalatin reagents there.”

Support