On the Brood Hosts planet.

After soothing the irritable Haiying, Baiying slipped out on his own to observe the Brood Hosts. As a Nurturer, his duties leaned more toward managing them.

He knew a new Brood Host had recently been delivered to this planet. Every Zerg's Brood Hosts had strayed into Zerg territory through some navigational accident and were never taken by force, so many years had passed before they found a new one.

A newly arrived Brood Host would always tremble at first, but soon enough, it would realize that this was a bountiful land and would settle in to enjoy life. But after a while, the lack of entertainment would make it listless and glum.

To spare himself trouble, and to keep the Brood Hosts a little livelier, Baiying would generally grant their every request, whether cultivating some novel plant or stacking Jenga towers with an Egg Brain.

"If a thought crime occurred, I wouldn't even notice it." Baiying mused. "The only suspect is that newly arrived Grade A. All shiny and sparkling to look at, but he turned out to be a dangerous one..."

From a concealed spot, Baiying counted heads and didn't find the Grade A among them.

With his interest piqued, he summoned his King-class armor and activated its scanning function.

"So that's where he is..."

Ten thousand meters up, clad in his armor, Baiying watched through the clouds as that unfamiliar Grade A gave a guard a parting kiss. He smiled knowingly.

"These two are certainly both interesting."

Baiying watched as Gano put on the Egg Brain and blended into the ranks of the guards.

He planned to ambush the youngster once he entered the forest, catching him off guard. But when they reached the forest, he completely lost track of him in the blink of an eye.

Baiying froze. He could hardly believe his own eyes.

Could it be... that the brat who stole Haiying's armor before was this little guy?

He hesitated. Having an armor stolen was an utterly humiliating affair, especially among the high-ranking Zerg. Haiying had been robbed in full view of everyone back then, which doubled the embarrassment, and the others laughed at him for two whole years. Considering that, Haiying's irritable temperament was understandable.

It was funny when it happened to someone else. But it would not be funny if it happened to him.

Baiying decided to stay put and wait. The Grade-A Brood Host spent all day in the flower house anyway. The little Zerg might run away, but the nest wouldn't. He might as well see what this thought criminal and the Level Four soldier were up to.

He flew back to the land battleship and casually greeted Haiying.

"Not going out today either?"

Haiying rejected him coldly.

"You'll regret it."

Leaving behind that cryptic remark, Baiying left.

There were three other high-ranking Zerg aboard the land battleship, serving respectively in the Command Bureau and the Botanical Bureau. None of them showed any interest in the matter. Only Baiying went wandering outside every day.

He watched as the Level Four soldier gathered a bundle of Crisp Autumn Fruits in large leaves, looked around cautiously, and slipped them into the flower house.

"Crisp Autumn Fruits really are delicious." Baiying picked one and ate it while floating high above.

Night fell. For once, the Grade-A Brood Host left the flower house and descended to the ground. He found the Level Four soldier with perfect accuracy and handed him some food.

"I don't starve them during normal times, do I?"

For some reason, Baiying suddenly found his own fruit tasteless.

The Grade A and the Level Four soldier walked side by side for a while. Their hands slowly drifted closer, until suddenly their fingers intertwined.

"The expressions on their faces are really irritating."

Baiying decided to stop watching for a moment and clear his head among the clouds.

The Grade A and the Level Four soldier reached a secluded spot in the forest. The Level Four soldier was extremely cautious, but he probably never imagined that there would be a Zerg idling ten thousand meters above the ground watching them.

They kissed again.

Baiying: "...Uh."

The tree branches began to sway.

Baiying: "Hm?"

The Level Four soldier removed part of his guard equipment and exposed just a small corner of his wings.

Is this kid planning to nest with a Brood Host? Well... I suppose that's not impossible.

Baiying was naturally quite tolerant.

Mother would be happy.

However, inside the forest, Xi Yujin simply stroked Gano's hair as if petting a small animal, and Gano immediately calmed down. Then Xi Yujin pinched his cheek and whispered something softly. Gano lowered his arms and silently watched Xi Yujin walk away.

Baiying bit into another Crisp Autumn Fruit.

And they still aren't nesting? Kids really are just kids.

Then another possibility suddenly occurred to him.

Could it be... the Level Four soldier simply doesn't know how to nest?

"What a disgrace to the family..." Baiying covered his face high in the sky, feeling embarrassed in an entirely different way.

He returned to the land battleship, grabbed Haiying, who had been resting with his eyes closed, and spoke with unusual seriousness.

"As Nurturers, we should pay attention to educating the younger generation about basic common sense! Popularizing nesting knowledge is our bounden duty!"

Haiying stared at him. "You put on your armor just for this?"

Baiying looked indignant. "This is obviously important!"

Meanwhile, Xi Yujin and Gano continued their blatantly obvious secret affair.

Gano said, "If a warrior is wearing armor, they could probably observe us from a very great distance. Yujinno... I'm... I'm not sure I can successfully evade their surveillance."

Xi Yujin replied calmly, "I want them to see us."

He gestured in the air. "The Zerg must have some sort of crime for adultery or illicit relationships, right?"

Gano shook his head.

"If all else fails, I'll just turn into a star and start wrecking things."

Then Xi Yujin said something shocking. "I want to go to prison."

Seeing that Gano looked worried, he carefully explained his plan.

"Foreign objects should all be stored in the Cave Prison. The Tidal Peace should be there too. Once we recover it, escaping will become much easier."

"Besides..." He squeezed Gano's hand. "I've developed some theories about the current state of the Zerg. If my guesses are correct, this may be another way for us to leave."

"I need to get inside the Cave Prison and take a look. Gano... you'll have to come rescue me. I'll stay where I am and wait for you to find me."

Gano shook his head, then nodded. After a long pause, he suddenly asked, "Turn into a star?"

Only then did Xi Yujin realize he had let the secret slip. At this point, there wasn't much reason to keep hiding it.

"I actually have another form," he said. "A form that's... just a tiny bit bigger."

Gano repeated blankly, "A tiny bit?"

Xi Yujin hurried to explain, "Don't worry. I'm much smaller than an ordinary star."

Though he wasn't entirely sure why that was supposed to be reassuring.

A rare expression of shock appeared on Gano's face.

Over the past few days, from secretly listening to others, he had learned that nesting involved wrapping one's partner inside one's wings...

Help! My wings couldn't possibly wrap around an entire star!

For a while afterward, the two of them could only reassure each other by making jokes.

Then, in full view of all the guards, Xi Yujin leaned down and kissed Gano.

The Zerg had no crime of adultery, but they did have charges like disturbing public order.

In an instant, the Zerg guards' Egg Brains secreted hormones, goading them to settle the matter by force.

Haiying caught sight of it with the greatest of ease: a Brood Host behaving in an unusually intimate manner with a guard.

His mind buzzed. He thought of Mother refusing to eat. He thought of the Zerg's bleak future. The last threads of his rationality were beginning to snap, and he picked up his weapon on the spot.

But Gano already prepared himself. The blade in his hand flashed from its sheath, intercepting the attack that descended like a flood or a raging storm. The gale split in two behind him, flattening the surrounding vegetation. Xi Yujin, standing behind him, wasn't harmed in the slightest.

This is bad.

Baiying inwardly cursed and immediately dove downward.

"Level Four soldier..." Haiying said through gritted teeth. "Even hidden beneath an Egg Brain, I would still know you. You violent disruptor of order."

Gano's equipment was indistinguishable from a Nest-class warrior's.

So when he opened his mouth to speak from behind that guise, the strangeness of it almost gave Haiying palpitations.

Gano said coldly, "I recognize you too, my defeated opponent."

He was, after all, the one who had snatched the Ers Royal Armor from Haiying's hands back then.

Alarm sirens echoed through the valley forest, indicating that battle was about to erupt.

Although Gano hadn't spent the last two years constantly honing his combat skills, the tremendous leap in his thinking speed allowed him to wield tactics with far greater mastery. He knew the core systems of the Ers Royal Armor, while Haiying wasn't carrying his greatsword.

He could do this!

Several high-ranking Zerg emerged from the land battleship. What they witnessed was almost surreal. A warrior wearing nothing more than standard guard armor was actually fighting the wearer of a King-class armor on equal footing.

"Don't damage the plants. Mother will be unhappy." The high-ranking Zerg who spoke was the director of the Botanical Bureau. He calmly brushed his long hair as if nothing unusual were happening.

"Haiying has truly deteriorated with age. He even let his armor get stolen. He might as well become worm feed sooner rather than later." The high-ranking Zerg serving in the Command Bureau spoke with distinctive bluntness.

Only after a moment did he realize: "Wait... the one wearing the guard armor isn't Haiying?"

"I rarely feel this eager to fight..."

The clash between the two Zerg nearly stirred the spectators' own battle instincts.

The Brood Hosts who had been gathered together watched the scene anxiously. At that moment, they suddenly understood the anguish of the protagonists in Third-Rate Lover when their attempted elopement had been discovered.

"I don't think they've actually done anything wrong..." One Brood Host said painfully. "It's just that... there is no freedom in this Zerg race."

"Silence." Baiying appeared behind them like a ghost, rebuking them coldly.

He confiscated the manuscript of Third-Rate Lover that had been circulating among the Brood Hosts.

Shayou and the other Brood Hosts wanted to warn Xi Yujin, but Baiying moved far too quickly.

He stopped in front of Xi Yujin and, for the first time, carefully examined the Grade-A Brood Host's appearance.

At first glance, because this Grade A's body material was so unusual, what everone remembered was his silver-white, mineral-like hair. It was difficult to notice anything else. Someone who had never seen a luminous lifeform might easily think they had never seen him before.

But upon closer inspection... there was something about his face that seemed strangely familiar.

Baiying raised the manuscript. "This Brood Host, I'm sorry, but you have been found guilty."

He wasn't about to neglect his duties simply because of a Level Four soldier. Especially not when dealing with a special crime like ideological subversion.

The moment Xi Yujin saw the manuscript, he became nervous.

Wait... am I being arrested for obscenity or banned literature?

Baiying spoke in a businesslike tone. "Your writings pose a threat to the Zerg. Two high-authority Zerg have determined that they constitute ideological crimes."

"I will now escort you to the Cave Prison for detention and processing."

He expected the Grade A to show fear. Instead, the Grade A visibly relaxed with relief.

"Take me away."

Xi Yujin explained calmly, "Being sent to prison is a fashion statement for novelists*."