After that final and only exchange, the Zerg entrenched themselves along the edge of the black hole, while the Intelligent Machines locked themselves in the deep space prison. They became the only two races in the universe that would never undertake long voyages again.

Aside from capturing the occasional unfortunate traveler who drifted off course, the Zerg never communicated with the outside world again. It was as though time was frozen for them at a single moment.

Until...

A star crossed the light-years to reach them.

On this land, the star spirit had already pieced it together. There had once been a bargain between the Intelligent Machines and the Zerg Queen.

The Queen deliberately made her warriors rigid and inhuman to ease her own mental disorder.

Standing atop the cavern-shaped prison, Xi Yujin's heart pounded.

The moment he requested an audience with the Queen, he could sense it: within a hundred li*, every blade had turned toward him, like subterranean sandworms opening their abyssal jaws, waiting to bite him in half. The killing intent was almost tangible.

Yet Xi Yujin's expression never changed. Like an acrobat walking on a tightrope, he refused to show fear before any audience.

On frequencies beyond his hearing, countless voices tangled together overhead, each cry calling for their Mother louder than the last.

Standing closest to him, Baiying narrowed his eyes. His pupils underwent a strange transformation as he searched Xi Yujin's microexpressions for the slightest trace of guilt.

Reading body language was an innate ability of the Zerg. It allowed them to identify an enemy's weakness and kill with a single strike.

But after more than ten seconds of confrontation, a painfully long ten seconds, it felt as though he were facing an impregnable fortress. He couldn't read Shanhui's thoughts at all.

Just as the tension was about to explode, the Queen's echo drifted through the cosmos, pouring a calming potion over the drawn swords and taut bows.

Seeing Baiying pause in surprise, Xi Yujin guessed that the Queen had agreed to speak with him.

Sure enough, Baiying lowered his weapon and looked away. As his blades withdrew, the surrounding Zerg retracted their own weapons one after another, withering away like stalks of dry grass. The prison returned to silence.

Xi Yujin secretly let out a long sigh of relief. If he wasn't putting on such an impressive act, he would have already collapsed onto the ground and thanked the heavens and earth.

He gazed into the distance, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Zerg's supreme ruler.

Then...

He entered an extremely awkward waiting period.

The Zerg Queen simply didn't appear. She needed considerable time to break free from the black hole's gravity.

She was... still on the way.

Xi Yujin waited atop the prison from dawn until dusk, then from night until the next dawn, waiting until he questioned his entire existence.

The labor drones marched neatly into the distant Interrogation Court twice. Patrol squads leading giant sand bugs circled the prison three times. Baiying even kindly handed Xi Yujin a basket of autumn fruit.

The Zerg Queen still hadn't arrived.

Whenever Xi Yujin asked Baiying when she would come, Baiying always gave the same answer: "Mother is on her way."

Mother is already coming. Stop rushing her.

At first Xi Yujin didn't dare to relax. Eventually, he started wandering around the prison with great curiosity. He even found the cave containing the Intelligent Machines' remains and the Tidal Peace.

Now, he had already reached the stage of completely giving up and entertaining himself however he could. Five dawns passed just like that.

His patience wore thin, and waiting for too long turned into torture. Even riding the roller coaster didn't make him happy anymore.

Out of sheer boredom, Xi Yujin asked for paper and pen and decided to return to his old profession: writing novels.

Prison was the perfect place to write. If he sat here without producing a prison-break story, it would be a waste of his boundless inspiration.

Not long after, several high-ranking Zerg arrived. They gathered outside the prison perimeter, glaring unfriendlily at this Brood Host who had gravely insulted their Mother.

Xi Yujin calmly continued writing.

"What is he writing?" one of them asked Baiying.

Baiying looked displeased. "Something dangerous. Don't ask."

Xi Yujin decided to keep using his Shanhui alias and began writing a sequel to Third-Rate Lover.

The first volume of Third-Rate Lover ended with the protagonist introducing a friend to their adopted son, Law Butterfly. Law Butterfly believed they were being abandoned. Rather than separate, they would rather cling to the protagonist until death.

Thus, Law Butterfly threatened to reveal their romantic relationship, letting the entire world curse them while they rotted together. Law Butterfly's burning love finally moved the protagonist, and the two decided on one last elopement. Whether they succeeded remained a mystery left hanging at the end.

In Volume Two, the protagonist and Law Butterfly flee to a small island. They abandon wealth, status, and every worldly restraint, living together while both in hardship and happiness for a time.

They have no money. Law Butterfly was still studying for certifications, while the protagonist wanted to do odd jobs to support the household. Eventually, they accept a delivery job.

The courier butterfly repeatedly warned them that the letter was extremely important and must be delivered with the utmost care. The protagonist agreed and protected it throughout the journey.

But then, an unexpected thing occurred! A local bully fell for the protagonist, but the protagonist coldly rejected them as delusional.

Humiliated, the bully plotted his revenge and secretly followed them.

The bully discovered that the protagonist was delivering the letter to a suspicious family. After investigating further, they uncovered that the family was fake, and their real identity were members of the Dragonfly Revolutionary Party.

The bully immediately reported them to the Church, and the revolutionaries narrowly escaped. However, the protagonist was thrown into prison and was about to be transported to the most terrifying prison in the world.

The protagonist begged a jailer to deliver a letter to Law Butterfly, who lived on the distant Little Village Island, asking them to flee and forget them forever.

Suddenly the bully appeared and shouted: "No! No letter will ever be delivered! Your poor lover will slowly die inside from waiting day after day, convinced that you've betrayed their love and will resent you! No matter how passionate love may be, once separated, it will turn into the deadliest poison! I'll make you spend the rest of your lives as enemies! This is my revenge!"

The protagonist's heart shattered, yet they couldn't lower themselves to beg the bully. Grinding their teeth, they allowed the jailers to escort them to the world's most evil prison, the Lotus Pod Prison.

...

Xi Yujin was writing in the original script of the Brood Hosts' species, so all the nearby high-ranking Zerg could read it. Although they never crossed the prison's warning boundary, their eyesight was excellent. One careless glance was enough to see the words on Xi Yujin's desk.

High-ranking Zerg commanded battlefields, so they possessed exceptional analytical and reasoning abilities. They might know nothing about literature, but instinct alone let them grasp the subtext beneath the words. Metaphors and literary devices were trivial to them.

So naturally they wondered:

What happened next? What will the protagonist experience in prison? Will they ever reunite with the other butterfly who was so important to them? Why didn't they just punch the bully butterfly and smash its wings? Is that really so difficult? Why is this disrespectful Brood Host writing so slowly?

More and more eyes gathered on Xi Yujin. Rather than waiting for the Queen, it looked as though he was livestreaming his novel writing.

The prison provided far too much inspiration. After only a short break, Xi Yujin picked up his pen again to satisfy the crowd of silent readers.

The protagonist entered the prison and underwent profound emotional changes. They became cynical toward everything and even wanted to spit at the prisoners next door. They wanted to travel back in time and kick the bully's wings to pieces. Even if they failed, at least they would have resisted.

Their curses against everything around them no longer satisfied them. They began cursing heaven itself. They cursed the all-knowing God, wishing that one day He too would become a lowly mortal.

After exhausting their rage, despair consumed them. They lay motionless in their cell all day, unwilling to even drink water. They gradually realized that they truly would spend the rest of their life trapped in this tiny prison.

Freedom. Precious freedom. The protagonist was going to lose it forever.

The expressions of the high-ranking Zerg cooled slightly. They communicated among themselves with frequencies Xi Yujin couldn't hear.

"Is this ideological crime?"

"When should we execute him? This is poison to Mother."

"Freedom..."

Instead of using the shared Zerg frequency, Baiying spoke aloud where Xi Yujin could hear. "You've never actually suffered inside the prison. What nonsense are you making up?"

Without looking up, Xi Yujin replied, "That's why I'm a novelist, not an actual criminal. Longing for freedom isn't my crime."

After a pause, he remembered something and added cheerfully, "But eloping is."

Baiying froze for three seconds before realizing Shanhui was talking about Gano.

Did he just show off their relationship again? What a terrifying romance!

Feeling irritated, he threatened darkly, "If you write any more about freedom, even if it means violating prison regulations, I'll rush in there and twist your hands off."

Xi Yujin replied, "Don't worry. I don't like preaching. Feel free to keep following the updates."

Baiying had no response. Instead, he found himself unconsciously looking forward to the next chapter.

Inside the Lotus Pod Prison, the butterfly protagonist lay utterly hopeless. Suddenly, they heard a voice from below. It belonged to a beetle, the prison's most innocent inmate.

The beetle was framed because it lacked money to pay bribes. Its special punishment was simple: the day it managed to push a stone to the top of the mountain would be the day it earned its freedom. But the slope was impossibly steep, and the stone was attached to a spring at the foot of the mountain. It could never reach the summit. In other words, the beetle would remain imprisoned forever.

Yet it never despaired and treated every inmate kindly and organized reading circles within the sunless prison. At this very moment, it was reading aloud.

"Love is the greatest treasure in the universe. But love comes in two forms: small love and great love. When we concern ourselves only with small love, we become entangled in personal fates and gain only shallow pleasures. But when we embrace great love, we realize how insignificant we are, and how urgently great responsibilities call upon us to sacrifice ourselves. Then our individual futures cease to matter..."

Could it be that their suffering existed because they lacked great love?

The protagonist disliked the beetle as well. But immediately afterward, overwhelming exhaustion overtook them. In truth, the person they hated most was themselves.

The protagonist decided to vent their emotions inside the prison. They dragged a platform into the courtyard, climbed atop it alone, and opened with a furious denunciation of society.

"This is a society ruled by hierarchy! Where we are born determines our entire lives! If you're born in the weeds, no matter how hard you work, you'll never have enough to eat! If you're born among the finest flowers, you'll live in luxury forever!"

Unexpectedly, many prisoners cheered.

The protagonist continued speaking, cursing aristocratic butterflies, tyrannical overlords, and cold-hearted accomplices until the guards arrived and dragged them off the stage. But by then, they were already famous, and the beetle witnessed everything.

One day, the prison gates suddenly swung open. The Dragonfly Revolutionaries had overthrown the Butterfly Church, and a new emperor had ascended the throne. New policies were enacted, and a general amnesty had been declared.

The protagonist was brought to the warden's office. There, they recognized a familiar figure... the recipient of the letter they had delivered.

"Your delivery helped us immensely, and our spies told us that your speeches in prison greatly aided our cause. You are a butterfly who truly loves the common people. We must thank you."

It turned out that the beetle was also part of the Dragonfly Party.

Thinking of the Law Butterfly they loved, who must surely hate them now, the protagonist said painfully, "I have no love left. My future has already been destroyed."

The revolutionary replied, "You possess great love. You shouldn't be shackled by the past. But we also know that unless you sever those old ties, the wound will always ache. We have an excellent proposal. Although you're a Phoenix-Tail butterfly, you have no wings, making it easy to assume a new identity... Pretend to become one of us. Punish those who once harmed you, and we shall reward you with the greatest treasure."

The beetle said: "Go take your revenge in the name of the Dragonfly Count."

...

Satisfied, Xi Yujin titled the second volume of Third-Rate Lover: The Dragonfly Count.

The instinct for revenge was practically carved into the Zerg's bones. After reading this development, Baiying wanted nothing more than to storm into the prison and shake Xi Yujin until he finished writing the revenge arc.

But Xi Yujin looked ready to take another break. Night had already fallen again, and the Zerg Queen still hadn't arrived. The prison remained as still as the calm before a storm.

"I actually read the whole thing without even realizing it..."

Baiying was filled with guilt, wishing he could scrub the story from his mind. But the more he tried to forget it, the more vividly the plot imprinted itself on him. Instead, he only wanted to know what happened next.

Did the protagonist succeed in their revenge? What future awaited them and the Law Butterfly?

After a long while, Baiying gave up struggling. He remained stationed at the edge of the cavern prison because Xi Yujin, as a Brood Host, fell under his responsibility. Until Xi Yujin was officially imprisoned, Baiying was required to keep watch over this thought criminal.

He hadn't expected to drag himself down with him. He didn't dare speak aloud because any conversation might be overheard by the surrounding high-ranking Zerg, and he had no desire to be righteously beaten by his comrades.

Instead, he wrote a note and pinned it to the edge of the prison.

"If you want to beg the Queen for mercy, you can say this..."

Curious, Xi Yujin looked down to continue reading.

Did this Zerg discover some weakness of the Queen?

The note read: "Tell her you're willing to have one thousand eggs with that Gano."

Xi Yujin: ?

Baiying sighed almost inaudibly. Of course, doing so would require modifying Gano's body, granting him Sub-King class permissions so he could carry eggs. It would also mean Xi Yujin could never leave Zerg territory again, nor ever write another book... But at least he'd still be alive.

Xi Yujin calmly tore off the note and wrote a single response on the back: "Absolutely not."

Whether begging for mercy or making Gano lay eggs, neither would ever happen. He and Gano would sail freely through the universe together...

Inevitably, Xi Yujin was worried about Gano. The Zerg never harmed their own kind. The lower one's rank, the more forbidden it was to hurt them. If a high-ranking Zerg bullied a lower-ranking one, the offense was treated as a significantly grave crime.

Lower-ranking Zerg were fragile, yet their labor was indispensable. That was why Gano always got away with his antics without receiving any truly severe punishment. Only knowing this did Xi Yujin feel comfortable separating from him.

Sitting cross-legged on the prison's rail, Xi Yujin gazed up at the star-filled sky and murmured to himself, "Don't any of you Zerg ever want to go out and see the universe?"

He suspected the high-ranking Zerg had some way of monitoring him, but no one answered. The entire world was silent.

Then suddenly, the stars began falling below the horizon.

Like throwing knives slicing through leaves, countless pairs of Zerg wings unfolded with sharp rushing sounds before folding shut again, their pointed tips lowering respectfully.

Baiying stood straight as a pine tree, hands clasped before his chest like a devout worshipper. In truth, he was exactly that. Silently confessing to their Mother, nearly crushed beneath the overwhelming weight of guilt inside him.

Then Xi Yujin saw it. The stars... were moving.

The entire sky transformed into canvas. An invisible hand seemed to pinch and lift that canvas, creating impossible folds across the heavens, as though space itself had gained another dimension. Great sheets of it cascaded down across the horizon. Gentle rippling sounds echoed like countless jade beads falling onto a polished plate.

It looked as though rain were falling at the edge of the sky, with everything becoming hazy and indistinct.

Then countless dragonflies shimmered like gold. In an instant, they surged from the heavens until they hovered before Xi Yujin.

This amorphous gelatinous organism... was the Zerg Queen?

Xi Yujin's heart tightened. What he didn't know was that the Zerg Queen possessed many forms, and this was her flying form.

She secreted an immense quantity of viscous fluid, using extraordinary biochemical reactions to create countless bubbles within it, enveloping every part of her body before traveling through space. The jelly-like substance stretched to astonishing lengths across the cosmos, resembling a radiant banner.

During war, a dying Zerg soldier only needed a single glance at that banner to regain the courage to fight more fiercely. The Zerg Queen had another title: the Undying Battle Banner.

The descending wall of translucent gel blocked the entire cavern prison from view, and Xi Yujin could no longer see the sky.

Inside the gelatinous mass, golden dragonflies drifted downward like a magnificent meteor shower. Even the sparkle of diamonds looked like fireflies in the sunlight beside such brilliance.

As half of the golden dragonflies faded away, the Queen's enormous, solid body finally emerged. She was brownish-gold rather than pure black, always carrying a subtle sheen.

The first thing visible was her tail, a strange heart-shaped structure whose pointed tip rested on the ground. This was the Queen's miraculous genetic workshop. She consumed Brood Hosts, selected whatever genes pleased her, and passed them on to future generations. She was perhaps the greatest genetic engineer in the universe.

Above that stretched her slender torso, which was covered with segmented tubes and fine hairs. Higher still writhed enormous glandular organs which resembled a split-open starfish, rhythmically exuding thick mucus. Then curved forelegs like giant hooks rose on either side.

Though she stood some distance away, Xi Yujin could tell that those terrifying limbs flanked the prison. If displeased, she could probably swat him away with a single blow.

Most unsettling of all was her head, which looked as though two enormous roses had been sewn onto it.

As she slowly lowered her head, Xi Yujin heard the sound of shifting sand. Only then did he realize that the flowers were filled with countless eyeballs. Pulled downward by gravity, they flowed like cascading sand, yet somehow never spilled beyond the petals. Every eye possessed a different pupil, and they moved independently. Nearly a third of them were staring directly at Xi Yujin.

This was the youngest Zerg Queen, Ubit.

Xi Yujin swallowed while Baiying's head was lowered nearly to his chest.

Meanwhile, Xi Yujin, still glowing faintly, stood out conspicuously. No Zerg would dare to look directly at their Mother so disrespectfully.

Ubit gazed at Xi Yujin. She seemed to chuckle softly. Her voice sounded as though it was whispered directly behind his ear. She didn't seem particularly hostile, or perhaps, she simply didn't care.

She appeared to be in an excellent mood and asked first, "Are you a newly arrived Brood Host? What crime did you commit to be standing atop the cavern prison?"

Xi Yujin looked up and replied, "My crime is being a thought criminal."

Ubit burst into laughter. "Hahahaha..."

Xi Yujin continued, "I know the Machine Mother Box once made a deal with the Zerg Queen."

The laughter stopped abruptly. She tilted her head to look at the tiny diamond spirit.

The nearby Zerg were all deeply shocked, though outwardly they remained bowed in silent prayer. The Zerg and the Machines had always been mortal enemies. How could they possibly have a deal?

Xi Yujin calmly met the Queen's enormous gaze. "Do you want me to continue?"

After a long pause, Ubit answered in a drawn-out voice, "Go on."

"The Zerg Queen sought to ease her own mental disorder by striking a deal with the Machine Mother Box. She handed over the core technology of the Egg Brain, while the Machines provided mechanical simulation technology, freezing the thoughts of the entire Zerg race. As long as their minds remained fixed at that single moment, the disorder would never worsen. Which means that for all these years, the only purpose left to the Zerg has been to serve as exquisite ornaments in the Queen's display room."

The nearby Zerg could barely restrain themselves from drawing their blades. Every sentence Xi Yujin spoke struck directly at their deepest taboos.

"But..." Xi Yujin hesitated. "I still have one question. Why..."

Perhaps this wasn't the best time to ask. But he felt that if he didn't ask now, no being would ever be able to answer him again.

"Why don't Zerg warriors suffer from mental disorders?"

He had observed them for a long time. Whether mass-produced low-ranking Zerg or naturally gifted high-ranking ones, none seemed troubled by mental instability. That was why they had little to no need for literature. Even Brood Hosts who had once loved books abandoned those interests after receiving new bodies.

Ubit slowly raised her head. Her answer came slowly.

"Because I love my children as well. That is all."

Xi Yujin froze. It was difficult to associate someone as arrogant and insane as the Zerg Queen with something as simple and selfless as love. Yet that was the truth.

The Queen had assumed responsibility for all of her children's mental disorders, and her suffering had long exceeded imagination. If the burden of thought grew even slightly heavier, her mind would completely collapse, so she could only sink into the black hole to find relief.

Baiying was overwhelmed with guilt. So were every one of the high-ranking Zerg who understood the truth.

The accumulated mental disorder of the race turned into a massive flood. If released all at once, the entire species would collapse. The Queen's mighty body and empty mind had become the dam holding back that catastrophe.

If they pursued freedom once more... the Queen's suffering would only deepen. If they allowed thought to evolve naturally after the war... her mind would be destroyed outright.

Literature itself was not their Mother's poison. Her children's free thoughts, those were their Mother's poison.

That was why Ubit had laughed at Xi Yujin calling himself a thought criminal. She had never even created such a crime.

Faced with this deadlock, the high-ranking Zerg chose silence. They confined themselves to their tiny worlds, pretending that they had never yearned for the scenery beyond the stars.

The lower-ranking Zerg had their thoughts imprisoned from birth. Layer upon layer, the entire race sealed itself away, enclosing every soul that longed for freedom.

Until one day, by chance, a scout looked beyond those boundaries and resolved to leave with his own strength.

Understanding slowly dawned on Xi Yujin. "So the Nesting Assembly was..."

Ubit's voice rose excitedly. "My masterpiece!"

She was the true promoter of all that bizarre Little Dad Literature among the Zerg.

Ubit laughed. "Mothers are always worried. We travel through black holes, and black holes are so comfortable that sometimes we never come back. If one day we're all gone, I hope my children will still have another future... It's just a pity. I have no idea where I went wrong with playing matchmaker. How come not a single couple ever worked out? And here I was, still hoping to watch my children lay a thousand eggs."

So the Zerg Queens didn't completely follow the Machines' solution after all. Within this cold, chaotic, merciless universe, there still existed a tiny warmth that no one expected.

Generation after generation, different Queens had sought new possibilities for the Zerg. Was there perhaps a future where both Mother and her children could survive together?

Every Queen's attempt had failed. One by one, they sank into eternal sleep within the black hole. Only the youngest, Ubit, was still delighted in experimenting with Brood Hosts.

Baiying was nearly kneeling on the ground now, his body trembling uncontrollably as guilt crushed him. It crushed every child present.

Ubit suddenly remembered the original reason for Xi Yujin's visit.

She asked, "So... have you come to declare war on me?"

Xi Yujin answered calmly, "No. I've come to treat you."

A novelist is someone who heals the sick and saves lives!