Gano turned toward the source of the noise. Sensing danger to their lives, the Brood Hosts immediately fell silent.

Then, they watched in disbelief as the fearsome intruder... took the Grade-A Brood Host away?

One of the Brood Hosts lifted aside a petal-like wall and peeked outside before shrinking back in terror.

"There aren't any guards outside. That attacker knocked them all out."

"M-Maybe we'd better just stay out of this..."

"May the stars protect the Grade A!"

Inside the spacious main flower chamber, Gano removed his Egg Brain and exoskeleton armor. His hair was slightly disheveled, and his emerald eyes, deep and cold as a frozen pool, remained fixed on Xi Yujin.

He seemed more mature than before. If he had once possessed a dull, delayed quality, then now, he resembled a freshly honed blade. Sharp enough that others could barely meet his gaze.

"Gano..."

The moment Xi Yujin saw that familiar face, his heart tightened. All the emotions he had been holding back flooded out at once, followed by waves of delayed fear.

Before he could do anything, Gano rushed forward and embraced him. The force of the impact pushed Xi Yujin back several steps before he was able to regain his balance.

"It won't happen again..."

Gano's voice was hoarse. He buried his head against Xi Yujin's neck, trying to press his skin against his lover's as much as possible. He had no idea how Xi Yujin had crossed the wormhole to get here. Guilt, joy, and terror crushed him until he could barely breathe.

In a low voice, he whispered, "Don't leave..."

Xi Yujin stood there blankly for several seconds before gently stroking Gano's back. He chose not to mention the dangerous journey.

Feeling another person's warmth and weight against him, he gradually tightened his own hands, as though confirming that Gano existed. A dull ache spread quietly through his chest.

At last, his whole world had an anchor. Their fourth miraculous reunion unfolded quietly within the flower chamber.

He finally understood. He was willing to give up everything, even his life, for this moment.

Xi Yujin laughed awkwardly. "It's really not a big deal.. We clearly agreed to travel together... All right, Gano, you're hugging a little too tightly."

Gano answered with a soft grunt and loosened his grip by perhaps one percent.

Xi Yujin teased, "Are you crying?"

Without changing position, Gano shook his head vigorously, his messy hair brushing against Xi Yujin's chin.

Xi Yujin said, "The Zerg here are so scary."

"None of them can match me. I'll protect you." Gano promised without a moment's hesitation.

"On this whole planet, I don't even know who I can talk to..." Xi Yujin complained softly.

Gano's heart twisted painfully. "I failed you."

Xi Yujin said, "So you have to make it up to me. From now on, you have to love me the most."

Gano didn't know what was spilling out of his eyes. Perhaps they were tears.

Only after a while did he release the embrace. Firmly, he said, "I'll use everything I have to take Yujinno away from here. First we need to leave this... planet where the Brood Hosts are kept."

Xi Yujin stared at him for a moment, then heard himself say, "I heard that the Zerg's Brood Hosts are the Queen's backup mates. And right now, I'm a Grade-A Brood Host of the Zerg."

Gano suddenly froze. They separated slightly and looked into each other's eyes.

Xi Yujin said, "Do you know what that means in Blue Planet culture?"

Gano's pupils shook violently.

Logically, the Zerg's moral standards meant they wouldn't care about such a thing at all. But Gano happened to think for himself, and he had spent a long time at Xi Yujin's side learning Blue Planet civilization, which had left him with a much deeper impression of propriety and shame.

He slowly grasped the subtext in Xi Yujin's words. He never realized this before! He only knew that Xi Yujin, as an outsider, might be seized and brought to this place, so he had gone to steal, to rob, to infiltrate... but he had never imagined the situation could be this complicated!

Gano's brain was about to overload once again.

Xi Yujin kissed Gano's forehead and said,

"Gano... what we're doing right now is called having an affair."

...

Gano sank into a state of philosophical contemplation.

Xi Yujin, whose soul was human and therefore accepted it far more readily, was puzzled. Isn't this just an interspecies young-stepdad-literature affair? That's hardly anything. Later we might have to add the eloping aesthetics of the Butterfly Lovers* and Romeo and Juliet. Human love should not be defined!

The elopement plan of the Blue Planet novelist and the Zerg warrior began now!

The first problem to settle was the Brood Hosts who had seen Gano.

Xi Yujin preferred diplomacy before force, so he planned to speak with Shayou and the others himself. These Brood Hosts were unlucky enough to be captured and brought to the Zerg world; none of them had committed any great evil, and the long famine of entertainment had left them listless and lazy.

Xi Yujin told Gano not to frighten them and to wait outside the flower chamber.

Gano put on a guard's armor and flew to the tip of the flower, signaling that he would stand watch from the top of the bud.

Xi Yujin glanced up at him and somehow found himself thinking that Zerg warriors looked like flower fairies.

He lifted the little flower-door, and was immediately greeted by a chorus of screams.

"AAAAAH! Grade A! You're okay! That's wonderful!"

Shayou was the first to rush over, anxiously checking Xi Yujin for injuries. "The companions we have here... lose one and there's one fewer. I don't want to see anyone disappear anymore."

Xi Yujin felt a little touched. He had actually been quite fortunate. Along the way, he had met many people who had treated him kindly.

"I'm fine. But I have a favor to ask." He addressed everyone present. "I hope you can keep this a secret. Please don't tell the other guards what happened."

The Brood Hosts immediately looked confused and worried.

Putting on a courageous expression, Xi Yujin declared, "Because... I fell in love with him at first sight!!"

The Brood Hosts all shuddered in shock, their eyes widening.

Up on the roof, Gano had been mulling over what crime adultery counted as on Blue Planet. Hearing Xi Yujin's declaration, he felt a little bashful.

He suddenly remembered the very first time he had met Yujin.

At the Edge of the Universe, he watched Xi Yujin drift toward him with that head of glittering diamond hair.

Without hesitation, he trampled over Gano's stern warning, forcing Gano to retreat several steps to avoid hurting him.

At the time, he hadn't understood the helplessness that rose in him whenever he faced Yujinno. He had only thought to record the matter in his memo and wait for some future day when he would understand it.

And now... it seemed this was that day.

Inside the flower chamber.

"It may sound unbelievable to you." Xi Yujin smiled gently. "But if you knew the person I used to be, you'd understand the person I am now."

Shayou's heart was stirred, and he was immediately led into the ditch by Xi Yujin's story.

"When I was home, nobody cared about me... Everyone's eyes were on my eldest brother. He was everyone's white moonlight, while I still had to look after the little brothers and sisters next door. They were all outstanding, but their personalities were vile. One little brother was so addicted to web novels all day that he forgot to eat, and people accused me of abusing him. Another read Abnormal Psychology all day and made newspaper clippings of murder cases, so people slandered me for neglecting him. One little brother was always in despair. Another sulked all day long. And another one... had a terminal illness!"

Xi Yujin paused.

This level of melodrama should be enough, right?

"Things were strange on my sisters' side too. One wore death makeup every day. One didn't like to speak. And one was obsessed with magic... You probably don't know what magic is. Magic is feudal superstition! A horrifying thing."

The Brood Hosts nodded as though they half understood.

"In the year I turned eight, I had to rise early and stay up late cooking breakfast for the whole family, then walk my brothers and sisters to school.

In the year I turned twelve, I studied hard and won a national prize. But that same day, my elder brother scraped his skin playing tennis. The whole family went with him to the hospital.

In the year I turned sixteen, every fault of my brothers' and sisters' had to be carried by me. False dirt about me spread all through the school. My classmates mocked me, my teachers targeted me, the janitors pointed and whispered behind my back. I was once locked inside a bathroom, and even when they heard me, they didn't come to help. In time, I learned to accept it. I was the wicked one that everybody loathed, the way they told it..."

Xi Yujin let out a long sigh.

Shayou and the others felt their hearts sink to the bottom.

During the eight-hundred-year blank stretch without entertainment, they tried every conceivable pastime: throwing themselves to their deaths on virtual battlefields, putting all sorts of awkward little requests to the guards, and even letting themselves go to write up their own embarrassing histories as novels.

However, a creature's inspiration has its limits, and a brain will deteriorate after a year of disuse, let alone a longer period. Their literary ability was eroded to the point that they couldn't even manage coherent prose. The only saving grace was that the body provided by the Zerg never had to worry about mental collapse.

Now, it was like celestial music had suddenly reached their ears.

The heartbreaking tale flowed on gracefully, lingering in the mind and deeply moving their hearts.

No one in Shayou's group thought that anything in it was wrong. Their moods rose and fell along with Xi Yujin's narration.

"Please... don't continue." One Brood Host finally interrupted. "You don't have to tear open your scars for us to see. We, we understand."

Xi Yujin gave him a meaningful look. Although he hadn't reached the climax of the story yet and found that a little unsatisfying, he nevertheless pretended to be reserved and said,

"In short, even though this Zerg warrior took me by force, I still fell in love with him at first sight...

I'm begging you. For the sake of my love, please don't expose him!"

In the past, he might still have had some regard for his own face, but after a separation of life and death, his heart had grown much stronger.

Reputation? As long as it achieved his goal, that was enough.

So he shamelessly activated his little star shining brightly skill. There wasn't a creature in this universe that didn't like a little star!

The Brood Hosts exchanged glances, still hesitating.

"And I have one more idea." Xi Yujin threw out his final bargaining chip. "I'm planning to write a memoir, a record of all the different loves I've met along the way, as a keepsake for everyone."

"A memoir?"

"Various loves?"

The Brood Hosts looked at him as if they were meeting him for the first time.

Shayou stepped in to smooth things over. "That's not impossible, right? Besides, we're not on the Zerg's side anyway. Why should we report him? Grade A is our companion."

"That's true..."

"Are there really different types of loves?"

Gossip is in every creature's nature, and several Brood Hosts asked the question shyly.

Xi Yujin smiled. "Haha. I've had a rather eventful life."

"But if the Queen comes, there's nothing we can do." Shayou still looked worried. "All we can do is pretend we saw nothing."

"That's already more than enough." Xi Yujin steadied himself. "I'll solve everything before the Queen arrives..."

Xi Yujin asked Shayou to go and find out about the crashed starship.

Gano went to tidy up the guards he had knocked unconscious. Most Zerg warriors obeyed the collective will, and individuals bore no distinguishing marks. Most Zerg would only register that "a warrior is missing," and never "which warrior is missing." So Gano only had to fill some warrior's post, and the unlucky one he replaced would simply be sent back the way he came.

At the center of the Zerg star system was a gigantic black hole. Because they were so close to it, the space was filled with violent particle storms, and getting out required careful navigation.

The best option was to locate Tidal Peace, then charge straight into the storms outside without a second thought.

The worst option would be for Gano to rob two more sets of King-class armor, and let Xi Yujin learn how to temporarily operate one.

Fortunately, the Queen's arrival was relatively slow. They still had some time to find the road out of the Zerg star system.

Xi Yujin quickly finished his manuscript and submitted it to the Publicity Office.

After connecting to the Egg Brain, the familiar text appeared before his eyes again:

The 1,845,009th Large-Scale War Reenactment. Objective: Invade Planet Wata.

Gano's figure materialized beside him as well. He explained that he had linked both of their Egg Brains together, allowing them to spawn in the same location. Whether online or offline, he didn't want to be separated from Yujin for too long.

Xi Yujin, however, was fascinated by the Egg Brain world. "So when you go online, do you all just fight wars?"

Gano shook his head. "The Egg Brain has enormous capacity. It functions as a second world. We can read military reports, study technology, and practice skills there.

The only thing is that every login begins with a battlefield scene. These so-called reenactments don't actually have specific missions. Warriors with sufficiently high permissions can also read in the Egg Brain library."

"Then how do you tell NPCs from real Zerg?" Xi Yujin had wondered about that for a long time.

"There are no NPCs." Gano answered, "Every one of them is a real warrior. We should walk farther away before talking."

The two of them sneaked around the Botanical Officers' patrols like lovers meeting secretly behind enemy lines during wartime.

"Our genetic permissions are assigned at birth." Gano's voice became somewhat cold. "But those permissions can be changed. If we perform exceptionally well during Egg Brain war reenactments, or display intelligence beyond our assigned rank during our real duties, we can earn opportunities to upgrade our permission.

Level Five permission provides access to basic military information, comparable to that of Nest-class warriors. Level Four permission allows for rest time, applicable to No-class individuals. Level Three permission offers basic entertainment, intended for Bian-class members. Level Two permission grants advanced reading privileges for Ying-class individuals. The highest level of permission, however, is reproduction rights, which are reserved for the Sub-King class.

I only reached Level Four before I left."

By then, Gano had already learned enough to understand conversations among other warriors and had acquired knowledge far beyond his assigned rank. For example, he had learned that everyone seemed to enjoy locking others in the little black room. As for the La carried aboard starships, it belonged to a permission class that possessed no authority.

Xi Yujin squeezed Gano's hand worriedly.

"The Permission Day exists because genes alone are insufficient. Some warriors may not fully express their genetic potential or develop too slowly, requiring subsequent correction."

They walked along the edge of the battlefield. Instead of reaching the rear safe zone, they found themselves before a gigantic tree. It was as large as an entire city. Bright green moss covered its trunk, while enormous hollows had been carved throughout it, making the tree resemble an inverted pineapple whose spines pointed inward.

Boom. Boom.

A green mosaic-like figure crawled across the trunk.

"That's the Queen." Gano explained, "The difference between the Egg Brain and reality is that you can't actually see the Queen here. It keeps warriors from developing transference."

Xi Yujin leaned over the edge to peek inside the tree. Since this wasn't a real war, and Gano was right beside him, he wasn't worried.

Inside the enormous hollows... were countless white eggs stretching as far as the eye could see.

The Queen laid eggs from top to bottom. The eggs at the very top glowed with a faint silver-white radiance. They were plump, perfectly rounded, and obviously healthy, neatly arranged with ample space between each one.

Farther down, the eggs became thinner and more elongated, only about a meter tall, and packed somewhat closer together. On the lower part, they shrank to only half a meter in height and turned slightly yellowish, with barely any gaps remaining between them.

At the very bottom, the eggs were simply piled into a mountain. Those eggs could never develop into complete warriors, so they were used to cultivate subspecies instead.

One by one, Nurturers inspected these lowest eggs. Based on their genetics, they determined whether each should become an Egg Brain, a flower chamber, a tank organism, or something else entirely.

"The Nurturers are the highest-ranking warriors I know." Gano whispered. There was even a rare trace of indignation in his voice. "I stole the Ers Royal Armor from one of them."

"Gano, you're amazing!" Xi Yujin wanted to praise him to the heavens.

Since this was the Egg Brain world, Gano flew a little higher with Xi Yujin and gave him a detailed explanation of just how formidable the Nurturers really were, mainly to highlight his own combat ability. Just because his official rank wasn't high didn't mean he wasn't powerful.

At the very top of the colossal tree, the Queen rested upon its peak. One level below her, several Nurturers patrolled the healthiest and whitest cluster of eggs. According to their own judgment, they selected the eggs that were most likely to become future Queens and placed them into cryogenic storage.

Queen eggs and ordinary warrior eggs were initially identical. Only when a new Queen was needed would the Nurturers transfer the candidates into incubation chambers, nourishing them with nutrition thousands upon thousands of times greater than normal. Eventually, after undergoing a one-hundred-and-sixty-fold mutation, a new Queen would hatch.

Candidates that failed to mutate successfully met different fates. Some were used to cultivate powerful subspecies, such as space worms or gigantic starships, while others became the next generation of Nurturers.

They were born powerful and possessed extraordinary intelligence. Watching them whisper among themselves, pause to think, or make little gestures while walking, Xi Yujin found them almost indistinguishable from ordinary people.

If a comparison had to be made, this group of Nurturers was more human than Gano.

Xi Yujin submitted his manuscript at the Publicity Office before logging off. Once the other Brood Hosts came online, they would be able to see his newly written memoir, and perhaps he could learn more intelligence that way.

...

Meanwhile, at the Military Publicity Office on the Planet Wata battlefield:

"To think our Zerg produced such a dangerous warrior! Gano! A mere Level Four dares to overstep his station like this... In the honor of a Nurturer, I swear I will capture him with my own hands!"

"Calm down, Haiying. He only stole your King-class armor and escaped prison..."

Two Zerg entered the office. Unlike the surrounding warriors, their expressions were vivid, their speech was natural, and their emotions were rich and fully formed. Even simply walking through the virtual battlefield inspired unconscious awe.

"Haiying, we should focus on the Queen's assignment and deal with those Brood Hosts."

One of them casually picked up a mushroom bulletin board and flipped through the writings while chatting.

"You know Queen Ubit's little hobby. She's always wanted to solve the Brood Host problem. This time she might even use that Grade-S Brood Host as a reward."

"I don't care about Brood Hosts," Haiying replied coolly. "Baiying, if you want to find a Brood Host to build a nest with, that's your business. I'm only interested in that escaped prisoner."

Baiying flipped through the pages lazily. "They're probably bored to death. I'm bored too. It's all just another task from the Queen. I suppose I should at least read what they've written to better understand them..."

He turned several pages. Gradually, his expression grew serious.

"Mother above... what kind of writing is this? Did our Brood Hosts produce some incredible literary genius? Did they mutate?"

Haiying rarely saw Baiying react like this. "What's wrong?"

After finishing the entire page, Baiying raised an eyebrow and smiled before unfolding the leaf and showing it to Haiying. Written across it was:

Third-Rate Lover by Shan Hui*.