After Transmigrating, I Raised Cubs in the Insectoid Clan - Chapter 27

Suter originally intended to toss the nutrient solution directly to Xiwen and let him drink it himself. His hand, which he had raised to rap against the desk, suddenly froze as he thought of Samuel.

Samuel had told him countless times in a soft, gentle voice that he hoped Suter would eat properly whenever conditions allowed. At first, those words only met with nonchalance. When Samuel was around, they would dine together. Samuel would arrange everything, and occasionally Suter would help in the kitchen with simple tasks. More often, however, urgent military intelligence and back-to-back meetings at headquarters made him accustomed to dismissing the entire day with just a few tubes of nutrient solution.

Initially, Samuel would only ask in a gentle voice during dinner or brief video calls: “Did you eat well today?” The tone felt like a teacher checking a student’s homework, yet it carried a sense of cautious indulgence. Samuel never demanded that Suter maintain a balanced diet at the military headquarters the same way he did at home; he only hoped Suter would at least eat on time and not ruin his stomach.

The Secrets and the Truth

So, Suter began to lie. He would casually make up names of dishes or even steal photos from the Star Net to send to Samuel, pretending he had actually eaten a decent meal. After hanging up the communication, he would hurriedly down a tube of nutrient solution, treating it as a late lunch or dinner. He thought he had hidden it well, unaware that Samuel had seen through it all long ago.

Later, the scent of sweetness began to drift frequently from the oven at home. Samuel would bake cookies that kept well or prepare simple, portable meal boxes, quietly tucking them into Suter’s bag.

“You do not need to do these things,” Suter would initially refuse. But gradually, he found himself looking forward to the feeling of being kept in someone’s thoughts. He also began to take the initiative to video call Samuel during meals, mimicking Samuel’s way of asking questions and learning to show concern for the other party word by stiff word.

On the other end of the video, Samuel’s eyes would curve into crescents, and his obsidian pupils would glow with tender warmth in the faint light of the screen. He would tilt his head slightly with a shallow smile on his lips, as if he did not want to miss a single second of Suter’s time.

Memories of Home

Suter’s heart suddenly began to beat violently, as if struck by a warm and surging emotion. In countless late nights, when the cold wind outside the base whistled past the metal hull of his cabin, he would momentarily hallucinate himself back to a winter at the military academy.

He and Xiwen would huddle on small stools in the dormitory, wrapped in thin blankets while their white breath dissipated in the freezing air. Boernther would sit cross-legged by the radiator, rubbing his frost-reddened fingers while enthusiastically describing his ideal home. Back then, the concept of home described by Boernther was much smaller. That home would only have one female insect, one male insect, and the crystallization of their love, which was a cub. They would meet because of love and form a home because of love.

Suter and Xiwen listened intently with bright eyes, as if catching a glimpse of a distant and beautiful future. At that time, he thought Boernther and Slade could truly live such a happy life. He and Xiwen had pooled their money to buy a ring for Boernther.

But fate loves to play jokes. Who could have imagined that in the blink of an eye, one would be critically injured and on the verge of death while the other would vanish without a trace? Those beautiful longings for home had scattered along with the smoke of war.

Samuel, having quietly finished listening to Suter’s description, gently took Suter’s hand and told him solemnly that a home could actually contain many things, and friends could be included as well.

“Friends are the family you choose for yourself.”

Between them, there was also a connection because of love. It was just that this kind of love was broader and deeper, like the silent gravitational pull between stars. It required no words but was always present. Trust, loyalty, and chemistry. Under Samuel’s gaze, these words suddenly gained a concrete warmth.

Xiwen’s Confession

When Xiwen reached his hands toward the white roses on the table for the fifth time, Suter finally took a deep breath and lightly rapped his knuckles twice on the tabletop. The overhead light in the room cast fragmented spots of light onto those few lonely white roses. If one ignored the scattered petals nearby, everything was beautiful enough to suit Xiwen’s tastes.

“I will take you out for lunch,” Suter said. He tried to make his voice sound peaceful, yet he still unconsciously carried the tone of a military briefing. Before his voice even faded, he saw Xiwen recoil his hand like a startled rabbit with a crumpled petal still stuck to his fingertip.

The commotion on the sofa suddenly stopped. Xiwen sat up straight in slow motion as the mangled petals fluttered down from between his fingers. When he turned his head, the tips of his pale gold hair were still dusted with a few grains of pollen. His amber eyes were wide, looking exactly as if he had seen some kind of monster. “You? What is wrong with you?”

Suter remained silent. The air froze for a few seconds. Suter saw Xiwen’s Adam’s apple bob nervously and his eyelashes flutter rapidly, casting an uneasy shadow under his eyes. The half-meter distance between them seemed to suddenly turn into the specialized glass of an interrogation room. Xiwen’s gaze swept back and forth across it, trying to find any trace of a clue.

Seeing that Suter did not speak, Xiwen felt increasingly anxious. After they stared at each other in silence for a few seconds across that gap, Xiwen finally compromised in a state of collapse and spilled everything.

“Fine, I was wrong,” Xiwen suddenly raised his hands in self-abandonment. “I admit, I really should not have taken private jobs on the side these past few days, but the other party gave way too much money. I really could not just let the meat right at my mouth walk away. And after it was done, he even gave me two rabbits. You know I like rabbits. Now the money is all spent! Nothing is left! It is impossible for me to give it back now!”

Suter narrowed his eyes.

Xiwen continued, “Hey, do not be so excessive! I really did not do anything else. It was just a few morning meetings I missed, reports I did not submit on time, and once while waiting for experimental results, I snuck out to buy a sweet drink.” Xiwen continued to blurt out words, his fingers tugging at the tassels of the sofa cover. “The claypot rice Levi bought was really incredibly fragrant.”

He suddenly went silent because Suter had already strode over. Suter’s expression looked even worse.

“Okay, I admit,” Xiwen said. “Just two days ago, the claypot rice in the alleyway two streets from the North Gate was really fragrant, you know? And I was too tired from the experiment, so I ordered Levi to go out and buy it for me. I could not help it, so I secretly ran out to play for a bit.”

He did not dare say more. Looking up and seeing Suter approaching with a dark face, he immediately jumped up in fright. “Hey! Hey, what are you doing? Do not come over! It was cloudy that day! Do you understand? It was cloudy! There was no sun! Ouch!”

The Emerald Pendant

In the end, Xiwen was pinned to the sofa like a salted fish. He clung to the sofa as Suter checked him thoroughly. Sure enough, Suter found a red spot the size of a coin at his ankle, hidden by his sock and already slightly swollen.

Suter held Xiwen’s slender ankle with a cold face. His grip seemed fierce, but the moment he touched the skin, he lightened the pressure. His long fingers, stained with cold medicinal ointment, moved in gentle circles around the red spot. The ointment quickly melted under his body heat, becoming a transparent protective film.

“Gentler,” Xiwen gasped softly, instinctively trying to pull his foot back, only to be held steadily by Suter’s palm.

“Do not move,” Suter frowned and scolded him, though his voice was a few degrees lower than usual. He lowered his eyelashes and pressed very lightly at the edge of the injury, as if confirming the extent of the damage. Once the ointment had melted into a thin layer, he replaced the coarse gauze he usually used for himself with a softer medical dressing.

Xiwen stared blankly at Suter’s tense profile. Those usually sharp dark green eyes were now focused intently on his wound. The final knot was tied so lightly that he could barely feel the constriction.

“Actually, I ran out once before that too,” Xiwen muttered softly. “But I covered up very tightly and did not get any sun.”

Suter gave a low “Mm.” He picked up the petals scattered in Xiwen’s palm, then fetched a wet wipe and wiped away the sticky flower juice from the other’s hand bit by bit. His movements were slow, as if he were completing an important ritual.

“I know,” Suter’s voice was very soft. “You went to see me. Thank you.”

Xiwen’s face instantly turned bright red. He lowered his head in a panic, only to see something shiny on Suter’s neck. He instinctively reached out to hook the silver chain. Xiwen looked up and moved closer, seeing that the originally silver-gray insect markings on the back of Suter’s neck actually shimmered with a faint gold. Currently hooked on his fingertip was a diamond-shaped emerald pendant.

Xiwen’s eyes suddenly lit up as if he had caught some incredible leverage. “Aha!” He drawled his tone, his finger pointing toward Suter’s collar. “The great General himself, leading the way in violating dress code regulations?”

Suter did not respond; he only silently tucked the necklace back inside his collar. He raised a hand intending to push away the clingy Xiwen, but he admitted defeat under the other’s persistent prying.

“You have a sweet scent on you,” Xiwen said, his nose almost pressed against the side of Suter’s neck. “Is it his pheromones?” His eyes were filled with undisguised jealousy. “Did he perform mental soothing for you?”

This realization made Xiwen’s chest feel tight. For three years, Suter’s rampaging mental power had been barely balanced by precision instruments. Those machines always carried the metallic scent of blood. They were not at all like now, where the sweet fragrance lingering around Suter’s neck was so gentle it was stinging. That male insect who appeared out of nowhere, on what grounds did he get to do this so easily?

The tips of Suter’s ears turned red. He turned his face away and his Adam’s apple bobbed unnaturally. “Shut up.”

But Xiwen would not let this opportunity go. He hung his whole body on Suter and fiddled with the silver chain. “He gave you this necklace too? Do you like his pheromones?” He suddenly turned serious and stared into Suter’s eyes without blinking. “Do you like him?”

The room was so quiet that the ticking of the clock could be heard. Suter lowered his eyelids. After a long time, he gave a response that was barely audible.

“Yes.”

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