After Transmigrating, I Raised Cubs in the Insectoid Clan - Chapter 9

Later, after joining the military, most of the food supplied by the army consisted of grass-flavored nutritional supplements.

This specialized supplement was developed specifically for the unstable mental power of military females on the battlefield. The pale green, viscous liquid was contained in sealed aluminum tubes, with the military emblem and serial number printed on the casing. It was said to contain a special sedative component that could delay mental riots to some extent, but the effect was minimal. It could not be compared to the unique soothing ability of a male’s pheromones.

Suter still remembered the feeling of drinking it for the first time. In the evening after training, he sat in a corner of the barracks and unscrewed the cap of the aluminum tube. The scent of grass rushed toward him, carrying a hint of bitter astringency. He tilted his head and squeezed the supplement down his throat; the thick liquid slid down his esophagus, leaving a strange taste, as if he had swallowed a whole patch of crushed grass leaves.

It was not exactly unpleasant, but it was certainly not delicious. It was simply flat.

These were the only two flavors of supplements he had ever tasted from childhood to adulthood. In his youth, he drank the cheapest original flavor. The liquid squeezed from the metal tube was bland and tasteless, leaving only a faint, lingering industrial metallic sensation on the tip of his tongue after swallowing. Now, he drank the military-issue grass flavor. The taste was not great, but at least it was better than the dry compressed rations used on the battlefield.

Even later, when his military achievements were卓越 and his assets were substantial enough to easily afford any expensive food, or even the exquisite desserts reserved for noble males, he never regained that intense craving and desire he had as a youth. Those sweet aromas that once made him salivate just by imagining them, the cream cakes decorated with bright red strawberries in shop windows, those luxurious tastes that only appeared in his dreams, they no longer mattered.

Perhaps it was because he had already tasted something sweeter than cake.

“Nutritional supplements?”

This was the first time Samuel had heard of such a thing. These mundane details of daily life, rarely mentioned in the original book, could unknowingly wear down a person’s spirit in the shadows. His eyes widened slightly, and his brows instinctively rose. Realizing his loss of composure, he quickly composed his expression but could not hide the confusion and heartache in his eyes.

He saw Suter’s calm expression. Those green eyes were like a pool of deep water, without ripples. Clearly, for this young man, this was an ordinary part of daily life.

“Is it good?” Samuel asked softly, his voice softening. He thought of the stories the little Suter had told him yesterday. A childhood accompanied by hunger, where even the cake crumbs found in a trash can became a rare delicacy.

The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them; it was a stupid question. His heart felt as if it were gripped tightly by an invisible hand, and a sour ache spread from his chest. Samuel’s gaze instinctively fell on Suter. This young man stood tall and straight with sharp lines to his shoulders and back, yet he reminded Samuel of a stubborn little tree standing firm in a storm. He was at an age that still required care, yet he had prematurely shouldered far too much weight.

Suter was not surprised by Samuel’s reaction. As precious males, their lives were always meticulously cared for, with dedicated attendants handling everything from their meals to daily needs. Even the lowest-ranking male would never spare a second glance at a nutritional supplement. That paste in cheap aluminum tubes was the final choice for the lower-class Zerg to sustain life.

“It is not good, Mister,” Suter answered truthfully. His voice was very light, like a feather landing on water. He lowered his head slightly, the stray hairs on his forehead casting fine shadows that hid the emotions in his eyes.

Samuel’s voice was tight as he asked again, “Can you really get full on that?”

Suter opened his mouth, but ultimately just lowered his eyes. “It is fine,” he answered softly.

Samuel handed over the plate with the golden little bread rolls. Suter took it cautiously as the heat from the bread rose.

“If you fall asleep early, you do not feel the hunger.”

Suter felt his eyes begin to heat up and his vision blur. The orange-yellow bread rolls gradually blurred into a warm halo. The faint warmth enveloped him like a small lamp in the dark night. Samuel’s hand hung in mid-air, wanting to touch him but then pulling back.

“Eat.”

Only the slight sound of bread being gently broken and the occasional crisp clink of porcelain plates against metal forks remained in the kitchen. Suter ate the bread in quick, small bites, chewing seriously. His lashes were lowered, and his nose was slightly red from the steam of the bread. Samuel noticed that his fingers were trembling slightly. He saw Suter blink hard, forcing back the moisture.

“It won’t be like that anymore. I won’t let you eat those things again,” Samuel’s voice suddenly rang out.

Suter’s movements froze, the bread in his hand stopping mid-air. The air in the kitchen seemed to turn soft. At that moment, he seemed to understand why he had been captivated by the young male before him. Suter’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and a complex light flickered in his green eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he just nodded gently.

The crisp sound of the doorbell came from the foyer. Samuel placed the extra baked rolls on a plate and asked Suter to go to the dining table in the living room to eat while he went to open the door for a delivery.

The courier stood outside holding a tightly wrapped cardboard box with the Star Network logo printed on it. “Your delivery, please sign for it,” the courier gave a professional smile.

Samuel carefully checked the order information and did not forget to say thank you as he took the package: “Thank you for your hard work.”

Closing the door, he skillfully picked up the disinfectant spray by the entrance and sprayed the package thoroughly from all sides. “Remember to disinfect deliveries first in the future,” Samuel said, turning to Suter who was standing nearby. “Wash your hands after opening them, got it?”

Suter nodded obediently, but his gaze instinctively drifted toward the box, clearly curious about the contents. Samuel took the new eggbeater into the kitchen and seriously washed his hands under the tap. Suter wanted to follow him in to help but was gently stopped at the door: “Go eat your bread in the living room.” He added, “There is milk in the fridge; help yourself.”

Suter slowly opened the refrigerator door, revealing neatly arranged drinks. The top shelf was filled with pink strawberry milkshakes, the packaging adorned with cute little strawberry patterns. The middle two shelves held fresh vegetables and fruits, with crisp green leafy vegetables and bright red apples organized perfectly. In the bottom two drawers lay several round Star Beast eggs.

Looking at these eggs, Suter could not help but remember a funny incident at the supermarket yesterday. The enthusiastic salesperson had shouted at the top of his lungs, “Star Beast eggs, buy one pound get one pound free!” Samuel was attracted by the shouting and leaned in curiously to ask, “What is the difference between these and regular eggs?”

The salesperson’s face lit up immediately. “Oh, these are incredible! Insect cubs who eat them grow up tall, females who eat them get beautiful skin, and if a male eats them,” he lowered his voice mysteriously, “Tsk tsk tsk, he becomes very brave. Do you want a pound?”

Samuel clearly only heard the part about “cubs growing up tall.” His eyes lit up and he took a box, completely ignoring the exaggerated claims that followed.

Suter pulled himself back from the memory and reached for a bottle of strawberry milkshake. Samuel’s instructions from last night echoed in his ears: “Even though I bought the strawberry flavor for you, you can only have one a day. And you cannot drink it right after taking it out of the fridge; you have to put it on the heater to warm it up.”

Back when he had a cub’s mind, he had tilted his head and asked, “What is a heater?” Samuel was momentarily speechless and stammered an explanation: “Uh, just warm it with hot water and drink it once it is not icy.”

Little Suter had not given up and suggested in a low voice, “Then why not put it in my bed? I can sleep with it at night so it won’t be cold.” He was met with a firm refusal from Samuel: “No.”

Thinking of this, the corners of Suter’s mouth tilted up in a faint smile. He skillfully cut open the milkshake packaging, poured it into a glass, and added some hot water. The warm milkshake was sweet in his mouth, and paired with the fluffy little bread rolls, a sense of happiness that felt very foreign filled his chest.

After finishing the last bite of bread, Suter happily picked up the long-neglected “garbage” robot. He nimbly opened the control panel, his slender fingers operating skillfully among the precision circuits. Before long, the reassembled robot was activated.

“Hello, I am the first home-style intelligent robot designed by the top mechanical engineer of the Imperial Star, Shen Jixing,” the robot introduced itself in a standard electronic voice.

Suter, having recovered most of his memory, was no longer as petty as he was as a cub. He calmly issued a command: “Your name is Xiao Su. The ‘Su’ as in Sesame Pastry.”

The robot blinked its LED eyes and responded obediently, “I am Xiao Su.”

Suter then set Samuel with master-level permissions. After receiving the instruction, the little robot moved its mechanical arms flexibly and began to automatically sweep the floor. Its round body moved nimbly across the floor with a faint humming sound, quickly cleaning every inch of the house.

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