The Regent of the Zerg [Transmigration] - Chapter 3

The existence of civilized order put an end to many acts of robbery and banditry.

Before arriving, Mu Ling had also considered the feasibility of “robbing the rich to help himself.” However, maintaining stability was no easy feat, and few were willing to face the Female Zerg of the Bandit Gangs head-on.

This resulted in a congested talent market.

When he reached the front of the building, he found that the competition had reached a fever pitch. The staff had cleared a specific area for recruitment, and a crowd of fellows who, like Mu Ling, had failed their online applications, gathered at the entrance demanding an explanation.

Why is so-and-so acceptable while we are not? They aren’t even as good as me.

The hierarchy among outlaws was determined by fists. Desperadoes venting their pent-up rage and opportunistic speculators crowded together. Amidst the throng, Mu Ling spotted Karn, whom he had met once before.

Karn saw him too. It was unclear how he recognized him, but he “swam” through the crowd excitedly upon seeing him. “Meeting again!” he shouted.

Mu Ling suspected his disguise had failed. Karn laughed:

“Your scent is very special…not the kind the nose smells, uh, let’s call it my talent.” He hurriedly explained under Mu Ling’s odd look.

“A Perceiver?” This was a talent possessed by only a few Female Zerg, usually assigned as scouts; it was rare even among sub-females.

Karn’s eyes lit up: “You know about it? Yes, yes—are you here for work?”

Mu Ling nodded: “As are you.”

Karn’s expression turned dejected, and he leaned in to whisper:

“I’m telling you, they definitely rigged it. The online part was just for show. Even I got brushed off.”

This made sense. Mu Ling asked:

“Do you have evidence?”

Karn’s shoulders slumped:

“This kind of operation isn’t technical, so I can’t catch it… but there’s definitely something fishy. I heard some people gave the recruitment department quite a few things…”

“Money?”

“Money is worth nothing to them! It’s… it’s mental stabilizers.” Karn said mysteriously: “No one knows how they were smuggled out, but I heard the purity is quite high.”

Mu Ling realized the truth. Mental stabilizers were a basic necessity for Female Zerg who lacked a Male.

However, the Bandit Gangs suffered from a dual blockade of economy and technology. These agents were chronically scarce, which was why they urgently needed brilliant pharmacists to join. Yet, it seemed these crucial positions had been compromised—wasn’t that counterproductive?

Hearing Mu Ling’s assessment, Karn sneered:

“Those rough guys wouldn’t think of that. They only come here to see if anyone in this building has a clear head.”

“So? You want to be a pharmacist?” Mu Ling thought this guy was better suited for the information department. Sure enough, Karn shook his head repeatedly: “What are you thinking? Everyone knows the secret formula for stabilizers lies in the pheromones of a Male. Otherwise, even a genius pharmacist can only produce clumsy counterfeits—like the kind flooding the Bandit Gangs’ market right now.”

Mu Ling didn’t believe it. If a Male’s pheromones were irreplaceable and impossible to synthesize, his plan would never get off the ground.

But he didn’t intend to explain this to Karn. This bug currently had a face full of delusions and longing while talking about Males; the few Males Mu Ling had seen in his life had bought out all his beautiful fantasies.

Just as Karn was blathering about how wonderful Males were, the agitated crowd suddenly went silent.

Karn’s nose twitched. His round eyes grew even wider, his nostrils flaring rapidly in disbelief. His jaw trembled, sweat beaded on his forehead, and his body shook uncontrollably, looking exactly like a Female about to go feral. He craned his neck to search through the crowd, muttering fanatically: “A Male! It can’t be wrong! It’s a Male!”

Many Female Zerg were as deliriously pleasantly surprised as he was. Mu Ling also smelled a heavy scent in the air and furrowed his brows in disgust.

Are they worried the bugs won’t recognize them? It’s too pungent, these stupid Males.

“Damn, there are actually cute little Males in this place! Heavens, there are so many Females here—what do we do? Is the little Male protected by Females?”

Karn had lost his mind, grabbing Mu Ling’s sleeve and shaking it constantly, his expression a mix of excitement and panic.

Mu Ling looked bored: “Aren’t you a sub-female?”

Karn turned serious for a second: “You’re a human, you don’t understand!” Then he grew irritable again: “Shit, shit, shit, why are they here!”

They were likely the three Males who had been on the same ship as him. To dare show up in this place, they must have arranged for Female guards, but it was still incredibly bold.

Though pheromones of this level wouldn’t cause a riot among Females, they apparently had zero sense of precaution, walking in so grandly as if they wanted every bug to know they were pieces of honey-glazed fat.

“Young Master!”

Suppressed low cries came from the restless crowd. Mu Ling saw six or seven tall, sturdy Females split the crowd in a triangular formation. Surrounded in the center were the sources of the commotion.

One C-rank, two D-ranks.

Mu Ling was pushed to the edge of the crowd, folding his arms to watch the scene.

Most humans reacted the same way as he did, a bit curious and a bit baffled, craning their necks to see who these “sacred beings” were, only to be disappointed upon seeing them. That’s it?

In the Bandit Gangs, they were used to the beautiful faces of high-level Females. They had heard that Males were even more peerless in appearance, but the ones appearing now were merely clean-cut and cute at best, not at all worth such a fuss.

They didn’t dare say this in front of the excited Females, tactfully making way for the bugs who were desperate to press closer, and watched from the side with folded arms like Mu Ling.

“They aren’t even as good-looking as ‘Little Plum Blossom’ at our village entrance.”

Mu Ling heard someone mutter quietly, which immediately drew the dissatisfaction of a nearby sub-female. Karn’s tone was very aggressive: “You dare compare a Young Master to the rotten flowers and weeds of your tiny place?!”

His loud voice drew some stares. The man shrunk his neck:

“Little Plum Blossom isn’t a flower…Little Plum Blossom is our village beauty, she’s very pretty!”

What on earth?

Karn was dazed by this string of flowers, but he could still clearly hear the man’s disdain for the Young Master. His temper flared, and he rolled up his sleeves to step forward: “You dare slander a Young Master!” He was pulled back, and turning his head, he met Mu Ling’s cold gaze: “He is a human; he can’t smell a Male’s pheromones. This is normal.”

This voice was like an ice chime striking water, sending a shiver through Karn. His head cleared a bit, and the influence of the Male pheromones faded.

He stood dazed for a moment, touching his neck with lingering fear, and gave a sheepish smile:

“…Sorry…I lost my head.”

The man was also afraid of getting into a fight with the Zerg. If Karn had been any more aggressive, he would have folded and run away. Fortunately, things didn’t reach that point. He believed in forgiving others whenever possible and hurriedly said it was fine.

Karn bared his teeth at Mu Ling: “Young Masters are incredible…”

“Their ranks aren’t high; it’s mainly that the leader’s scent is quite strong,” Mu Ling said while looking at them.

“They aren’t high, you can smell them?” Karn was shocked.

“I can’t smell them, I can tell by looking.” Mu Ling lied with a straight face:

“From what I know, a Male’s mental power and pheromones have a strong allure for Females. You are clearly a sub-female…”

“Sub-females are Females too!” Karn protested.

“Fine. But you were actually influenced by Males of this rank.”

“……You’re just talking without knowing how it feels. Unlike humans, do you think Males are common? I haven’t seen more than ten in my life.” Karn sighed: “They almost never go out, or rather, they don’t appear before us. They have their own places, Male clubs and such, they don’t need to associate with us at all. This might be the first time many low-level Females have seen a Male. Be understanding of the ‘too many monks, too little porridge’ sentiment.”

Karn’s eyes turned complex as he whispered:

“And it’s very likely the last time these Females will see a Male before they die…”

Mu Ling said nothing more.

Three Males could not solve the ferality problem of such a vast number of Females; they might even add fuel to the fire. However, for some Females, seeing a Male once in their lifetime was enough for them to face death in peace.

Mu Ling couldn’t tell if this was some irresistible biological instinct. If it was, this one-sided adoration was far too unfair.

“In the end, the problem of mental stabilizers must be solved…” he murmured.

Karn rolled his eyes: “How could it be that easy? That stuff is a rarity even in the Empire!”

Although he was a sub-female, he was a good sub-female who cared about national affairs: “Many bugs have tried, but no luck! Only Males can formulate it. They say it requires their pheromones to fit the mental wave frequency or something… it involves the issue of mass-energy conversion. The Empire would never reveal the method.”

How do you know? Facing Mu Ling’s surprised look, Karn gave two dry laughs: “My cousin…uh, tried a little experiment once.”

Humans shouldn’t know it’s illegal, Karn thought guiltily.

As expected, Mu Ling didn’t push. He had also secretly tried the formula for mental stabilizers, and without exception, all had failed.

Although the Empire hadn’t publicized the means of mass-energy conversion, humanity had made significant research into it. All were “theories of everything,” so there was no reason a human method wouldn’t work.

Thus, he secretly had a dark suspicion: perhaps there was no formula at all. High-level Males were fully capable of manipulating low-level Males to make them “voluntarily” contribute their glands. The so-called stabilizer was merely a cover—a fig leaf for high-level Males to sacrifice low-level ones to control Females.

Eighty percent of a Male’s mental power rank was determined by heaven; whatever rank you were born with was basically what you’d have for life.

However, a few Males had one chance to jump ranks during adulthood. Even if they didn’t succeed in jumping, they could significantly enhance their mental power.

Mu Ling discovered that since the dawn of the Empire’s history, there were no written records documenting the methods for a Male to advance. It seemed it was all down to luck and divine grace. But through careful study over the years, he found this wasn’t the case.

If mental power were compared to water, ranks E and D were like puddles and streams—dependent on the weather and prone to drying up. This was why low-level Males struggled to meet the needs of high-level Females.

Rank C was like a canal, carved along the borders, flowing ceaselessly but lacking the spirit of rivers and lakes.

Rank B was like a great river, with huge reserves but also wild and difficult to tame.

Rank A was like deep pools and great lakes. Waters gathered in valleys are called lakes; they can accommodate streams, rivers, and canals, calming unruly waters and irrigating unyielding soil.

As for Rank S, it was inevitably the vast expanse of the ocean, the boundless sea—difficult to exhaust and inexhaustible in use.

Mu Ling was born an A-rank, his mental realm like a giant lake, yet no one had ever granted him the method to advance.

He didn’t believe that something he, an outsider, had figured out in a few years hadn’t been studied by anyone in the Empire over a thousand years.

The upper class allowed gifted Males to indulge in pleasure, slowly draining their spirits in endless praise and pampered honor. The sole obligation for the vast majority of Males was to mate with Females and propagate the next generation.

As for anything else, the Empire neither opposed nor promoted it. They gave Males a worry-free environment, making their wills weak and leaving them with nothing to do.

Some Males were cynical and didn’t know what they were living for, yet they were reluctant to leave their luxurious conditions and wouldn’t easily trouble themselves. Others were content to wallow in debauchery, wholeheartedly being “bookworms” for a lifetime.

What could these weak-willed, low-level Males do against the black hands of the upper class?

And for the Females, the situation was only more tragic.

Mu Ling looked down in deep thought:

It’s just old wine in a new bottle, the same old story of the lower classes harming each other. Many Males don’t think deeply, a knife made of sugar is still lethal.

“What are you thinking about?” Karn looked at Mu Ling’s serious face with trepidation.

“Tang Luosi…should be thirty this year, right?”

Females without Males don’t live past thirty-five; this was the conclusion summarized from history.

Karn nodded and sighed:

“What a shame…Hah, why are we worrying? Let’s just hope we aren’t around when he goes feral…Why do you ask?”

Mu Ling frowned—he was counting on joining forces with him to subvert the Empire; he couldn’t have the plan end with him standing alone before it even began.

“Hey, hey, hey, Mu Lin!” Karn suddenly grabbed him. “They’re coming over!”

Mu Ling looked over. Those three brainless Males were actually coming their way!

He looked around and didn’t see anything worth noticing, yet he saw Karn making that “infatuated” expression again. He grabbed him and pulled him aside: “Save your silly look; your drool is about to drip.”

Karn instinctively wiped his mouth:

“Not at all! Why did you pull me? That was a prime spot!”

Mu Ling sneered: “If you want to be torn apart by those Female guards, feel free to go back.”

Karn looked at the Female guards with their unpleasant expressions and swallowed—Mu Ling was right.

The three cute little Males came to look at the recruitment ads posted on the notice board. Because they weren’t tall enough, they had to tilt their heads up. The Females beside them asked: “Shall I lift you up to see?”

The C-rank Male looked arrogant and nodded reluctantly:

“Don’t get handsy.”

They were lifted high. Tilting their heads, they instinctively bit their fingers, looking dainty and cute, which drew another round of commotion.

The long-suppressed Females were itchily impatient, making the circle around the little Males smaller and smaller. The Females holding them couldn’t stop it in time and could only shout: “Get back!”

The Males finally started to panic. The defiant Females howled:

“Little Young Masters, look at us! We can also be your Female Attendants or Slaves!”

It was a call answered by a hundred; the crowd of bugs immediately boiled. Even the humans realized something was wrong and dodged to the side.

Mu Ling’s face was grim as he pulled the bewildered Karn even further away. The situation was heading in a bad direction.

Too much is as bad as too little. The Males thought pheromones could influence Females and thus abused them, not realizing that adding water to boiling oil would make the pot explode.

Seeing that a riot was about to occur, a fully armed team emerged from the building. Mu Ling noticed that the leader was actually a B-rank Male.

With a dark face, he swept the crowd aside. The Females behind him held weapons pointed at the restless thugs. The blood-scented barrels reminded everyone of the horror of the Bandit Gangs’ Females. A bucket of ice water was poured over every bug’s head; they immediately sobered up and didn’t dare make a sound.

The B-rank Male stood before the three little Males and questioned them with extreme disdain: “You don’t even know how to restrain your pheromones, yet you dare come to the Bandit Gangs?”

The suppression of rank was not to be ignored. The three little Males lowered their heads with pale faces: “So, sorry…”

Mu Ling looked toward the entrance of the building. A tall figure was leaning against the door. Seeing him look over, the figure even raised a hand and waved, as if they were old acquaintances.

Thanks to his excellent vision, Mu Ling saw his face clearly this time—he was as handsome and elegant as he had imagined.

“Host! S-rank Female Zerg Tang Luosi detected! Issuing S-rank danger alert! Please retreat to a safe area immediately.”

The System, which hadn’t said a word even when the Females were about to riot, suddenly went neurotic. Mu Ling’s eyes narrowed, and he squeezed two words through his teeth: “Shut up.”