The Male Zerg Cub Doesn’t Want to Be the Cannon Fodder Top - Chapter 10

The main city was under martial law.

A boundless energy net enveloped the entire city. All passing aircraft were subjected to rigorous inspection, and long queues snaked through the security checkpoints at the city entrance.

Eliotte’s hand, hidden beneath his cloak, tightened slightly. He raised his golden eyes to stare at the aircraft bearing the First Army’s insignia, mentally calculating the layout of the city defense blueprints and identifying the weakest guard points.

Finally, he picked up the four-head-tall chubby cub, who was only as thick as his own calf. He removed the space button hanging from the cub’s neck and spoke softly.

“I am borrowing this for a moment. I will return it to you shortly.”

A pure white mecha materialized behind him. The mecha was not particularly large and bore many unrepaired scars. However, when the mecha’s eyes lit up, a pressure akin to an interstellar giant beast spread out. Maurice felt as if he could smell the smoke of blood and fire from a battlefield.

“Wait, hold on!”

Just as Eliotte was inputting commands into the mecha, Maurice spread his short arms and hugged Eliotte’s leg, looking up to ask, “Releasing the mecha, will it not expose your location?”

The female bug shook his head slightly. “Radiant Star is the most advanced mecha in the Empire. Its speed is something the First Army’s warships cannot catch. While it draws away the guards and creates a distraction, we can enter the inner city through entrance SZ70.”

“Once it loses the pursuers, we can go back and retrieve it. Although the damage will be more severe, it will draw all the firepower.”

Eliotte’s voice was gentle, and he touched the cub’s fluffy head with a hint of shame. He had originally intended to give this top-tier mecha, worth billions, to the cub as a thank-you gift. However, his strength was greatly diminished due to his injuries, and he was a wanted man. It was embarrassing that he could not even slip into the main city of a small border planet alone.

This was actually Eliotte’s first time planning a stealth entry. It was different from a confrontation on the battlefield or the schemes on the Imperial Planet. He had to ensure the cub’s safety; there was no room for error. The cub stared blankly at the expensive mecha. Before he could even admire its power, he heard it was to be used as a target, and his whole being felt unsettled.

“No!”

Maurice hung onto the female bug’s leg like a soft, sticky accessory, wailing, “No way! You have such a cool mecha; do not use it on such a small matter! I have a way into the city!”

Eliotte paused in setting the mecha’s program and had to lean down again to pick up the cub. “Really?”

Half an hour later, the female bug watched as the cub practiced prying open an aircraft from a hunting estate with excessive skill. Before long, Maurice parked the aircraft at a planetary junkyard.

An incinerator stood near the junkyard, emitting choking industrial exhaust. Various types of city waste were mixed here, waiting for robots to sort and recycle them, causing the vast expanse of land to smell of scorched rot.

Eliotte instinctively lifted his cloak and reached out to cover the cub’s nose and mouth. Though he was a female bug unloved by the Mother Goddess, he was ultimately born in the palace and raised in noble courtyards filled with the fragrance of flowers. Even during military campaigns, he mostly commanded from the rear. His male brother, Klein, had been strict with him, forbidding him from mingling with “low-level Zerg” to prevent any rebellious thoughts.

In short, even after falling to the point of being wanted by the First Army and Imperial law enforcement, Eliotte had never set foot in such a chaotic and filthy place. The instinct to protect the cub surged; he wanted to stop the cub from inhaling toxic gases and keep him from seeing such a messy scene.

In the blink of an eye, however, the four-head-tall cub was like a fish in water, expertly jumping through the gray-black trash until he blended right in. Seeing that Eliotte had not followed, the cub stood on a nearby pile of rubbish and waved.

“Come on! The garbage truck just arrived! We will ride the garbage truck back, and it will take us right to the entrance of the Under-city Black Market! There is absolutely no identity screening there.”

Seeing Eliotte’s slightly widened eyes and the way his pale fingers gripped the edge of his cloak awkwardly, the cub slapped his own forehead. He remembered that the female bug was probably different from a “grassroots civilian” like him and likely had no idea how city waste was handled. The cub, who had scrambled far away, trotted back on his short legs. He looked up with his dusty, chubby face and said, “Actually, this area is all mechanical waste; it is not that dirty. I actually have a more dignified way into the city, but it takes a bit of time. I would need to contact a dealer who sells virus plug-ins to get two electromagnetic cards that can fool the security robots. That would take about…”

“It is fine.”

Eliotte suddenly felt a wave of shame. He leaned down to pick up the cub and stepped into the junkyard, following the path the cub had just taken. The ground was uneven, smelling of machine oil and rusted metal. He held the cub tightly in his arms, realizing for the first time how difficult the cub’s life actually was.

Eliotte had promised countless times to take care of the cub, yet in the end, he had to rely on the cub to get things done. Instead, it was the cub who seemed perfectly at ease taking care of him. How could Eliotte not feel ashamed? A hint of color appeared in the female bug’s cheeks as he held the cub steadily and entered the garbage truck in the direction the chubby finger pointed.

Maurice, sensing Eliotte’s seriousness, sat in the crook of the female bug’s arm with a red face. He buried his nose in Eliotte’s neck, inhaling the cool scent of sweet flag.

As a college student, being held like a baby by a beautiful female bug was naturally embarrassing. However, lately, the female bug often picked him up to fuss over him. At night, Eliotte would hold him like a lifeline, burying his handsome face in the cub’s soft belly. Maurice was not a real cub; he knew the female bug might be ill, suffering from PTSD or skin hunger due to past experiences, requiring physical contact to escape the shadow of fear.

For this reason, the cub was not stingy with his chubby body, which was useless for anything other than being liked by the female bug. The trouble was, as time went on, he seemed to become overly accustomed to being close to the female bug and smelling that wonderful scent, to the point of repeatedly delaying his system missions.

Perhaps the ancients were right that a hero’s grave is found in the land of beauties, but he was not gay!

While the system was busy cleaning up the messes of other hosts, Maurice quietly experienced a collapse of conviction. However, this did not stop him from sticking to the female bug like a large piece of rice cake. Listening to Eliotte’s steady heartbeat, all the distracting thoughts in his mind vanished.

When the two entered the Under-city Black Market, the daylight was at its peak. Due to the First Army’s presence and frequent inspections, the black market was quieter than usual. Still, many bugs lurked in the shadows. Countless gazes drifted over Eliotte, whose tall figure was out of place in the black market, like bloodthirsty beasts sensing an outsider in the pack.

The chubby cub covered his face, leaving only a pair of vibrant green eyes visible, and hopped down from the tense female bug’s arms. He tugged at Eliotte’s hem and whispered while looking up, “Relax! The bugs in the black market are doing business that could cost them their heads. They hate noble manners and disciplined law enforcement teams. They will think you are an undercover agent coming to catch them. Slouch your shoulders a bit, cover your whole face, and do not look directly at them. Yes, exactly like that. Act more like a thief!”

Under the cub’s direction, the female bug awkwardly hunched his broad shoulders. Yet, no matter how he tried to hide it, the innate nobility in his bones and the dignity in his movements remained, appearing somewhat mismatched. The cub was so worried he lost another two curly hairs.

“Forget it, just carry me! From now on, we are playing the role of a desperate noble female bug who has broken into the black market to save his sickly cub.”

The cub helplessly opened his small hands. After being picked up by the female bug, he let out a world-weary sigh, which actually caused the corners of the female bug’s lips to curve slightly.

“I am sorry. I am too clumsy.”

“No, you are not. You, well, I guess this is just natural nobility.” The cub leaned gloomily on the female bug’s shoulder, his chubby face squeezed into two fleshy dimples. Back in his original world, Maurice was just a poor college student with no contact with high society. However, in the era of the information explosion, even the secrets of royal families were turned into memes. To Maurice, the idea of worshipping nobility felt like forgetting the sacrifices of revolutionary martyrs.

Yet, on this female bug, nobility was a tangible, natural trait. He seemed to possess an innate magic that made people’s gazes stop, making them want to listen and obey, feeling their blood heat up for his every smile or word.

Maurice simply could not resist the female bug’s magic. He did not know what to do with him. He probably should have found a way to send the female bug out of the Empire long ago and then continued with his system mission. But whenever he was with Eliotte, his mind went blank. In the middle of the night, he always found his round face pressed tightly against Eliotte’s heart, his chubby hands gripping the female bug’s lapels.

Physical reactions do not lie. He did not want the female bug to leave him; he only wanted him to be safe. He also knew that with his current abilities and the current state of unrest and oppression in the Empire, he could not provide the female bug with the bright palaces and blooming gardens he deserved.

Many stalls and shops in the black market were empty. Several illegal taverns that Maurice usually used to gather information were closed. To maintain their personas, Maurice and Eliotte exchanged some medicine for treating fever. The vendor selling the medicine was an elderly sub-female with sickly pale skin and dry, cracked fingers. Even with a low physical grade, he likely still suffered from male pheromone deficiency in his old age.

The elderly sub-female’s sharp gaze swept over them. Maurice, who was looking around from Eliotte’s arms, quickly buried his face in the female bug’s shoulder, pretending to be on the verge of death while croaking out “female father” a couple of times. Eliotte’s pale face flushed slightly as he hurriedly handed over some energized beast meat to the sub-female in exchange for the medicine, then rushed away holding the cub.

“Hehe, how was my acting? But I think that sub-female was strange. He seemed to be sizing us up; transactions were not like that before.”

The cub alertly poked his head out from Eliotte’s shoulder to scan the surroundings. Several tall figures flashed through the dark alleys. Though they were physically strong, their postures were stiff, carrying a heavy mechanical feel.

These were things the old black market never had. The cub told Eliotte about his discovery. The arms holding him grew increasingly stiff. Just as the cub sensed something was wrong and wanted to look up, he heard Eliotte speak in a gentle, casual voice.

“It is fine. Perhaps they are robots in female bug forms patrolling. Let us go. According to the wristband network, the rebels are having a gathering under the Coiled Tree tonight.”

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