The Male Zerg Cub Doesn’t Want to Be the Cannon Fodder Top - Chapter 9

Eliotte suddenly reached out, his cool palm grasping the cub’s small hand. After a moment, he said softly, “Fine, I will not leave. Not until you are safe.”

Until he could deliver the cub into the hands of the Rebel Army, he would stay.

Hearing this, Maurice let out a genuine sigh of relief. The female insect’s earlier expression suggested he was ready to face death with composure at any moment, which made Maurice uneasy. He felt he had to look after him until both his body and mind were restored. He thought that if the female were a wanted deserter, it might be safer to escort him out of the Empire’s jurisdiction once he was healthy. However, before that, he needed to conduct more research.

Thus, the two insects, each harboring a desire to protect the other, sat back down at the dining table. The chubby cub eagerly piled food in front of the female, forcing him to accept the cub’s enthusiasm and kindness, which only deepened the guilt in Eliotte’s heart.

Even though Eliotte felt ashamed to accept the cub’s efforts and vowed to hunt tomorrow to gather more food for the child, he still became completely immersed in the enjoyment of his taste buds and the satisfaction of a full stomach after the first bite. He was almost unable to extricate himself. In the past, Eliotte had mostly followed conventions, using nutrient solutions like other females and sub-females in the Empire to become a model of female virtue. On rare occasions, his male elder brother, Kelaien, would tease him like a pet with sickening intimacy, stuffing exquisite food between his lips. Those pampered fingers lingering on his lips and neck left him with memories of food that felt only like a cold, snake-like sensation of sinking.

Eliotte did not think he liked eating, let alone enjoying it. It was not until he tasted the cub’s food that he realized how wrong he had been. Food itself might only serve to satisfy hunger, but as he sat opposite the cub he trusted and loved under the slanting afternoon sun, the warm and sweet aroma of the food acted like magic. It seeped into his flesh and blood, warming his exhausted and frozen soul. Eliotte knew he would never forget this. No matter what happened in the future, with such a memory, his soul would remain whole and free. His soul would never belong to Kelaien.

On the other side, the chubby cub also felt relieved, holding a bowl as big as his face while slurping stewed meat. Suddenly, Maurice noticed the female gently put down the roasted chicken, his voice carrying a hint of confusion.

“There seems to be residual mental power from a male in this food. Although it is very slight, it explains why my mental sea has improved so much.”

The chubby cub’s body froze. As the saying goes, one lie requires countless more to cover it up. Maurice felt like a sieve, full of holes from top to bottom. For instance, he had not expected that using mental tentacles to hunt where the female could not see would still be detected. He raised the large bowl to hide his pained expression and whispered a defense, “Did I not go to my brother Adam today for energy stones? These chickens were caught by Adam using his mental tentacles. He did not want them anymore, so I picked them up on the way back.”

“Your brother?” The golden-eyed female opened his eyes in surprise, but he soon realized he had been led astray by the unrestrained cub. “Lord Adam uses his noble divine power for hunting? Is he practicing his divine power through hunting? Such character and perseverance are top-tier among the Lords. Furthermore, to leave such a strong residual effect just from hunting, his strength must be formidable.”

The golden-eyed female looked at the golden roasted chicken with concern in his eyes. Even though the scene was elegant and beautiful against the backdrop of the female’s world-shaking appearance, it made Maurice cringe so hard he had to raise his chubby hand to cover his face. Adam? Character, perseverance, strength? Should those words even appear in the same sentence?

Maurice waited for a while before barely managing to mutter, “Um, ah, right, ah, Adam. Just eat up before it gets cold.”

He placed a roasted rabbit on the female’s plate, taking the opportunity to urge him to eat more of the prey Adam had caught to repair the damage to his mental sea. Usually, high-level females and sub-females who are not marked by a male after the age of twenty-five suffer from pheromone deficiency, leading to the collapse of their mental sea and resulting in madness and death. Young cubs or females and sub-females with weaker constitutions do not show obvious symptoms. Maurice’s male shell was visibly fragile and he was still a cub, so he clearly did not need a male’s mental soothing. Therefore, after a moment of hesitation, the female guiltily accepted the cub’s kindness. Before the dust settled, he indeed had many things to do and needed to restore his strength as much as possible.

Maurice was once again amazed by the female’s appetite. Having eaten his fill, the chubby cub propped up his fleshy cheeks and watched with admiring, starry eyes as the female elegantly finished the food. This caused a thin blush to spread across the female’s fair face. Caught in the act, the cub scratched his head and chuckled, then turned his small body back to continue studying his clue wall regarding Eliotte.

Once the college student immersed himself in work, he became incredibly focused. Naturally, he did not see the complex expression on the real Eliotte behind him. Eliotte resisted the urge to stop the cub who was immersed in the clues. Out of a desire to protect the cub, he perhaps should have stopped the investigation. The failure of the First Army involved secret research by the Imperial royal family and secrets regarding the current Insect Emperor’s rule. It was not something a cub with such a special identity and innocent nature could interfere with. However, he truly did not know what reason to use to stop the cub, so he could only hope that it was just the child’s nature and that he would give up if he could not find what he wanted.

Eliotte stacked the empty dishes in the simple sink and clumsily washed them clean. By the time he had tidied himself up, night had fallen over the wooden hut. Moths in the forest flew straight toward the window. Eliotte sat on the bed covered in various blankets, pursed his lips, and reached out to the cub, “Come rest, alright?”

Stop investigating Eliotte, he thought. He is a dying insect and not worth such attention. He also did not care if his actions were recognized or understood, because the die was cast and further words were useless.

“Eh, okay.” Maurice was jolted out of his chaotic thoughts and guesses, suddenly remembering that the female was still sick and needed more rest. The chubby cub quickly turned off the electronic screen and most of the lights. After fumbling through his wash-up, he carefully climbed into his small nest at the corner of the bed.

He had kept watch for the female there last night. As a rugged college student who never complained about sleeping conditions, Maurice curled his chubby body up to sleep. Suddenly, his body felt weightless as the scent of snow water and calamus from the female surrounded him.

“May I hold you while we sleep?” The female’s voice was very weak. In the darkness, his golden eyes sparkled like stars, but they avoided the cub’s gaze, as if he were ashamed of his actions. He knew he should not be so offensive, but he craved the touch of the cub too much. His skin hunger caused a burning, stinging pain. The pain alone was bearable, but the itch deep in his bones was difficult. He wanted to feel the living warmth of a fellow kind so badly he was going crazy. He longed to touch and protect the cub, and the desire made him restless.

The male cub’s night vision was not much different from a human’s, and he did not dare to release his mental tentacles to look. His heart beat fast because of the female’s scent, but his worry was even greater. Although the medical pod had closed the female’s wounds, Maurice was an Earthling and was not that familiar with insect technology. The chubby cub reached out in the dark, his soft, warm palm and chubby fingers brushing over the female’s chest and ear. Amidst the female’s stiffness and shame, he touched the female’s forehead. After confirming the female did not have a fever, he let out a soft grunt.

He happily pressed his round face against the female’s chest muscle and said generously, “You can hold me, it is all yours! I know I look like a giant pillow. It is only human, well, insect nature. Go to sleep. Tomorrow, tomorrow will, whew.”

The college student, who had quickly put himself to sleep, was delirious but still waved his chubby paw, rhythmically patting the female’s chest as if soothing an anxious beast. Eliotte looked down at the cub’s soft sleeping face, his fingers feeling numb from the sudden warmth. He clearly realized that the cub in his arms was a rare miracle. It was not because of great power or unparalleled wisdom, but simply because of a unique, clean, and warm soul that surpassed a scorching star, easily bringing life and warmth. Eliotte knew deeply that every second he spent with the cub was stolen time, a miracle he kept for himself. He did not deserve these things, yet he was becoming more and more attached to them.

After using a shameless way to play the pity card and keep the female, Maurice felt guilty and kept his cover even tighter. He was still trying to find a breakthrough to get close to Eliotte and complete the mission. However, he wondered if it was his imagination, but the gradually healing female had become very dependent on him. He would often pick up Maurice while he was searching for clues on the network, surrounding him with his unique and cold scent, and gently rub his soft, chubby belly.

“Given the constitution of a female cub, your physical strength should not be this weak.” The female’s long, fair fingers brushed over the soft flesh on Maurice’s belly. It tickled so much that the chubby cub twisted his barrel-like waist and kicked up his feet like a fat cat having its ticklish spots rubbed, completely forgetting about the mission. In the female’s arms, the chubby cub tilted up his round face, meeting the female’s lowered, confused, and worried gaze. The spring sunlight pierced through the shade of the trees, dotting the female’s face, which had regained some color, making him look as beautiful as a dream.

The cub’s round face turned so red it seemed about to burn. The butterflies in his chest were almost ready to break out of their cocoons. He covered his face with his fleshy hands, guiltily peeking at the female while arguing, “I am different from the females of the Empire.”

He decisively shifted the blame to his “cursed by the Mother Goddess” constitution, not daring to lead the topic toward being a fragile male. The confusion in the female’s eyes indeed dissipated. His hand gathered Maurice’s protruding soft belly, and his touch became gentle yet firm. “I will hunt prey with mild energy for you, but that is not enough. In the black market of the main city, there might be potions that can help improve your constitution.”

The chubby cub kicked his legs guiltily but was still rubbed into a pile of sticky rice cake by the female. In the past few days, the female had hunted many large prey in the Schmidt hunting grounds. While hunting, the female was calm and silent, his movements efficient and swift like a natural predator. He combined a dangerous aura with his deep-seated elegance, causing the cub’s heart to race countless times and making the college student wonder if something was wrong with this body.

The excess ingredients piled up like a mountain in the cub’s space ring, making the cub grow a size larger, but it was horizontal growth. The development of a male cub was not necessarily linked to simple energy intake, which made the cub’s cover even more precarious and worried the female.

“My constitution is fine, I am just low level.” The cub tried to bluff his way through, but the female gently shook his head, his black hair shimmering like satin in the sunlight. “It is different. Even a D-level female cub will improve in physical strength and perception after taking in energy.”

The female spoke gently, but his meaning was clear. Only you eat this much and grow sideways, he implied. The chubby cub covered his face in shame and whispered, “But I am really fine. You are wanted, going to the black market is dangerous!”

Because the female was injured, Maurice had not gone to the black market for nearly half a month. However, he felt the planet’s tension and strict martial law on the star network. Something big had happened in the First Army. Maurice did not know the details, but he sensed from the brief complaints of male users on the star network that the holding of Eliotte’s Path of Shame was not going smoothly. Those males were complaining that the opportunity to humiliate the prince and the criminal female was taking too long to arrive, while the Rebel Army was also frequently active on the border stars.

Because of the Rebel Army’s great victory on the Sky Palace Star, many males suspected their own female slaves or consorts of colluding with the rebels and intending to revolt, leading to many disputes and even bloody incidents. Maurice anonymously published many articles denouncing this behavior, hoping to draw the attention of the Imperial public, but they were all cleared away by the star network. Before thinking of a better way, Maurice had no choice but to put down his pen and focus on studying the clues. To get information not available on the star network, going to the black market was inevitable, and Maurice also wanted to help the female leave the Empire.

This was the safest move for the female and the most correct course of action for him. Maurice could not give up on the system mission, nor could he put the female in danger. But with every second spent with the female, and as the female showed his dependence and care for him, what was originally rational and simple became incredibly difficult. As a result, the impulsive and infinitely energetic college student delayed the mission progress again and again.

“I cannot hide forever, and I have mostly recovered. With my strength, the law enforcement teams on the border stars and the search teams of the First Army cannot do anything to me.” The female’s voice had no hint of boasting, yet it made one unable to doubt him. The cub sat in his arms, looking up at him blankly with starlight in his eyes.

“Then we will go together. I will lead the way.” Maurice compromised, but the female’s expression changed slightly.

“You have been to such a dangerous place?”

Maurice thought to himself, I am much more experienced than a noble female like you who looks like he follows the rules, but he acted obediently and said, “My skin color is so obvious, and I do not have an Imperial identity. If I need things, I can only go to the black market to trade.”

The female indeed said nothing more, only holding the cub a little tighter, causing the cub to be squeezed between the female’s chest muscles. His face turned as red as an apple. The next day, Maurice and the female approached the heavily guarded main city.

Support