The Male Zerg Cub Doesn’t Want to Be the Cannon Fodder Top - Chapter 13

The chubby cub revealed only his green eyes from beneath his hood, their depths clouded with bloodshot veins. Yet, his gaze remained clear and sharp as it swept across the rebels, each one a bug who had narrowly escaped death thanks to Eliotte.

“I can understand why you do not trust me. I am a male bug hiding my face, no different from any other male who abuses his power. But Eliotte,” Maurice’s voice faltered. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths beneath his hood, struggling to suppress a strange, sharp pang in his heart.

“Eliotte is a female bug. He just saved your lives. Without you even knowing it, he has saved countless more. And whom have you saved? Most of you can barely look after yourselves. Yes, you are not the ones at fault. The fault lies with centuries of imperial slavery and oppression, with the males, the system, and the structure. But are your hardships the only ones that matter? Are the sufferings of other sub-females and female bugs in the Empire worth less? Just because you joined the Dawn Organization a step ahead of them and stand under the banner of righteousness, do you have the right to view them as pariahs beneath you? Acting like this makes you no different from the imperial males. You are just oppressors attempting to place yourselves above the rest of the Zerg.”

Eliotte’s gentle, pale face flashed through the cub’s mind again. His voice, fueled by heartache and anxiety, grew as sharp as a blade, piercing through the buzz-cut female bug who was eager to argue.

“The irony is that your purpose for coming to the Empire was to recruit and guide more Zerg to join the rebel army, was it not?”

The cub’s sudden revelation of their secret mission left the rebels in absolute silence. The buzz-cut female bug’s face turned a violent shade of red as he awkwardly avoided the cub’s insightful gaze. Having their enemy state their secret mission so effortlessly made their previous caution and suspicion seem redundant and ridiculous.

“The rebel army is mostly comprised of female bugs and sub-females. A little over a year ago, you were still Zerg of the Empire. Until there is a breakthrough in medical and genetic research, you still suffer from the devastation of Male Pheromone Deficiency. More urgently, you need new strength; you need more imperial female bugs and sub-females to join you. Whether you want to admit it or not, as Zerg of the Empire, you need males to procreate.”

“So, to expand and protect the fruits of the revolution, you send action teams into the Empire to win over those who wish to escape tyrannical rule. At the same time, you secretly search for the Fallen, because the Fallen are the only community capable of procreating between females, independent of males.”

“But no matter the task, you have botched it. Not only have you acted perversely by playing judge while trying to win over your fellow Zerg, but you are also ungrateful. Even after Prince Eliotte risked imprisonment to save your lives, you still judge your compatriot with the most low-minded suspicions.”

The cub tilted his face up, his gaze once again sweeping over the various faces of the rebels. This time, after his incisive critique, not a single one dared to meet his eyes.

“The First Army and the enforcement teams might not execute him because of his birth, but that is only because they want to drag him down a path of shame and subject him to utter humiliation. Hardship is not limited to what you recognize in your narrow world. It is true he was born noble and will not die of hunger in the streets, but does that mean his sacrifice is something you are entitled to disparage? Should his noble and selfless actions be slandered by you for no reason?”

“Who knows if it was Eliotte who leaked our meeting location! A month ago, the First Army was still in a standoff with the rebels. How many of our brothers did the imperial legions kill? It would not be too much even if we killed him. Are we supposed to wait for him to flatter the Emperor again and lead an army to wipe us out?”

Stung by the cub’s sharp words, veins bulged on Burkett’s thick neck like a maddened beast. However, his gaze skipped over the male cub almost instantly, landing instead on the silent, blonde sub-female, his eyes flashing with heavy murderous intent.

Burkett’s outburst was not because he truly wanted to give up the escape opportunity provided by Eliotte and the male cub; he did not want to die. He would accept even an enemy’s ruse if it meant survival. He simply wanted to incite the action team members to turn against the blonde sub-female, eliminate him, and become the leader himself.

His plans had faced repeated setbacks. Through deliberate manipulation, he had caused most of the team to lose trust in the blonde sub-female, but this strange male cub had seen through everything, causing Burkett’s efforts to fail at the final hurdle.

Despite joining the rebels, Burkett still harbored a superstitious fear of a male’s mysterious power. He did not dare show murderous intent toward the cub who had exposed his thoughts, so he stared deathly at the sub-female as if he were the source of all his problems.

He failed to notice that the four-head-tall male cub was scanning everyone’s reactions again. Maurice’s gaze stopped on him, clear and soul-piercing.

“Your leader did everything possible to preserve you even in an extremely disadvantaged situation. He made the right decision by trusting Eliotte and me; that is the only reason you are alive. Burkett, if you are dissatisfied with Eliotte’s and my identities, you are free to choose not to follow me in the retreat. Even if you attacked me right now because of who I am, at least your actions would match your words. Yet you still refer to the imperial ruler as Emperor and cannot even look me, a helpless male cub, in the eye. Instead, you only show your ferocity when slandering Eliotte and provoking your leader.”

“I cannot help but wonder what your true motive is. If what you truly despise are female bugs and sub-females who have a higher status or are luckier than you, yet you dare not resist real males and instead degrade and harm your own kind without limit, I would advise your colleagues to be wary of you. Despite being in the revolutionary army, you are more likely to betray the revolution than anyone else.”

Before the cub could finish, Burkett had already retreated a few steps, hiding himself behind the crowd. His blood-red eyes betrayed his intense emotions. Yet, even in his resentment, and even though Maurice had no standing to interfere in rebel internal affairs, he did not dare express defiance or dissatisfaction in front of a male cub.

His behavior perfectly matched the cub’s description; all his resentment and murderous intent were directed solely at his own kind.

The rebels who had previously believed Burkett now instinctively distanced themselves from him. Generally, female bugs and sub-females were not gifted in language; they believed tools only needed to be useful, not knowledgeable or quick-witted, a mindset encouraged by males to strengthen their rule. Prohibiting them from literature, art, and philosophy made them easier to brainwash. Their own communication networks had only been established a few years ago, so most lacked advanced expressive abilities, leading to a generally simpler way of thinking.

But that did not mean they were stupid.

Confronted with clear facts, most of the rebels felt a surge of anger and displeasure. The rebel army was not just made up of those from humble backgrounds; many female bugs and sub-females from the nobility and the military had also joined the revolution without hesitation. They were fighting for a grand Dawn, not to become tools for fratricide!

Moreover, thinking back now, their leader had always been cautious. It was Burkett who, in his greed for credit, had authorized the meeting announcement on the wristband network and acted ostentatiously in the Under-city. It was highly likely that his own negligence had exposed the operation!

If Eliotte had not intervened by exposing his identity to draw away the pursuit, and if the cub had not led their core members to safety from the Under-city, they would have likely been wiped out!

Some rebels began to look at Burkett with suspicion, while a few stubborn ones continued to defend him. At that moment, the silent blonde sub-female finally spoke.

“Enough. The priority now is to rebuild our retreat route while doing our utmost to complete the mission.” His gaze fell softly on the male cub as he spoke a quiet promise. “We will never reveal your secret, Your Highness. Once the retreat route is established, please join us.”

“No.”

Maurice gripped Eliotte’s mecha tightly, showing no intention of handing it over. Instead, he tucked it further under his hood.

“I have no interest in joining the rebels. If possible, I would like to speak with you alone regarding Eliotte.”

Ilya Noah, the blonde sub-female, looked worried but granted the cub’s request. They walked into the thick forest and stopped beneath a massive oak tree.

The cub’s chubby hand emerged from his cloak to gently stroke the oak. It was under this very tree that he had first encountered the blood-stained female bug. He had not known Eliotte’s identity then, but meeting him was his first real connection to this new world.

He had come to think of that temporary wooden cabin as his home.

“I am Ilya Noah. Back in the Empire, I was from the House of Duke Noah and am an old acquaintance of His Highness Eliotte. His Highness hoped I could take care of you. It is embarrassing that it was actually you and the Prince who helped us instead.”

“So, he already planned to leave, he does not want me anymore.”

Away from those strange rebels, the cub lost his sharp, critical edge, and fragile emotions surged within him. He blinked, his chubby shoulders sagging as he tried to suppress the stinging in his eyes. He repeated the mantra, “News does not believe in tears,” to himself, desperately trying to soothe his own heart.

“He had no choice.”

Ilya knelt down. His gaze swept briefly over the gray fingertips exposed by the cub, a flash of confusion in his eyes, but he asked nothing. In some ways, he possessed the same sense of propriety and etiquette as Eliotte.

“I do not need him to take care of me. I need the truth.”

The male cub gritted his small teeth, speaking every word deliberately.

“In that battle between the rebel army and the imperial legion, what exactly happened? Why did he become a target for both the rebels and the Empire?”

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