Qiao Song stood on the starship, looking down at the Zerg passing below. This time, when the medical association was assigned a mission to visit the Zerg, everyone pushed the task away, and in the end, it fell onto his shoulders.
No one was willing to come to the Zerg. The incident with the male Zerg a thousand years ago led to the current xenophobic attitude of the Zerg.
The Zerg are warlike and show no mercy to other species. Coupled with their ability to cross the universe with their own bodies, it’s something that humans find too fantastical.
The Zerg are universally acknowledged as the most untouchable species in the universe.
Qiao Song accepted this mission purely out of curiosity about the Zerg. This was a rare opportunity to come into contact with the Zerg, and even possibly encounter one of their extremely rare and precious male Zerg. He believed that no medical professional should miss this chance.
He still couldn’t understand what his colleagues, who refused to come because of a little danger, were thinking.
When he disembarked from the starship and met the Zerg who had come to greet him, Qiao Song slowly looked up at the Zerg before him. Standing at 1.97 meters tall, he had always considered himself tall, but now he found himself eerily silent.
Is this a bit too tall?
He seemed to only reach this Zerg’s elbow?
He remembered that his seven-year-old nephew was about the same height as his elbow, so wouldn’t the angle from which this female insect looked at him be the same as the angle from which he looked at his own nephew?
…
At the entrance of the Alhandra estate, after being refused entry several times, Alhandra Zangshi was finally allowed in because he had brought a human doctor.
After sitting in a transport vehicle for a while, they arrived at the main building. Here, Qiao Song saw two male Zerg at once.
He carefully observed the male Zerg in front of him. Unlike female Zerg, male Zerg did not have the mysterious and beautiful insect pattern on their faced, but their appearance and height were similar.
This male Zerg must have very high mental power because, when he met that lazy, scrutinizing gaze, Qiao Song even felt as though he was being seen through.
Qiao Song pressed his tongue against the back of his teeth and laughed in his heart. This is really rare!
“Ah ya~”
A soft, childish voice reached his ears, and his gaze lowered to the small male Zerg being held by the tall male Zerg. He had been so focused on observing Alhandra that he hadn’t even noticed the presence of this little male Zerg.
The little male Zerg has a fair skin, round cheeks with slightly drooping fat on both sides, a red, pouty little mouth, and a curious, smiling blue eyes.
Qiao Song specialized in pediatrics and had seen countless children in his ten-year career. Among all the children he had encountered, this little male Zerg ranked in the top three for cuteness.
He seems to be born from the light, with his fair complexion, blue eyes, and black, fluffy hair. Just looking at him, Qiao Song’s ever-aching and parched mental sea felt somewhat soothed.
Was this the suppressive effect male Zerg had on mental frenzy?
Qiao Song’s gaze shifted slightly, and when he met Alhandra’s inscrutable expression, all his emotions instantly settled into silence.
He suppressed all his feelings because the male Zerg in front of him could easily see into his heart.
He couldn’t have any idea of exploring any male insect in front of him, especially not the little male Zerg in front of him.
This was the pain of the Zerg, the pain from the plundering that occurred a thousand years ago. Most of the male Zerg who were taken died in the laboratories of the Palming race.
Little Wei’an, cradled in his male father’s arms, hadn’t noticed their movements. He was busy kicking his legs and reaching out to Alhandra Zangshi, asking for a hug.
When Alhandra Zangshi entered, little Wei’an, being an artifact spirit, sensed the bloodline connection between them. His small face immediately blossomed into a smile, his tiny mouth babbling incomprehensibly, “Ahh~”
Alhandra Zangshi, who usually exuded an overwhelming aura, softened his expression at the sight of the little male Zerg, his entire demeanor becoming gentler.
He walked up, but instead of picking up Wei’an, who was reaching out to him for a hug, he stood by and simply stared at him.
Wei An, who did not get a hug, ignored the displeased expression on his male father’s face and made an effort to grab Alhandra Zangshi’s hand.
Seeing his struggle, Alhandra Zangshi couldn’t help but offer him a finger. Grabbing the finger, Wei’an, who grabbed the finger, looked up and gave him a bright smile.
He wasn’t afraid of him.
Alhandra Zangshi mused.
He had many female children, but they weren’t very close to him. Whenever he put on a stern face, his female children couldn’t even speak clearly in front of him, let alone be close to him.
So this was Alhandra Zangshi’s first time interacting with such a small Zerg cub, and it was a male cub at that.
He looked down at the soft little fingers wrapped around his hand. Even though the cub couldn’t even hold half of his finger and could be easily shaken off with a light movement, Alhandra Zangshi’s hand felt as though it was weighed down by a mountain, not daring to move.
Alhandra raised an eyebrow, “He seems quite close to you.”
Alhandra Zangshi nodded, with an expression of ‘its natural’. “Yes.”
“Ahh~” The little Wei’an, cradled in his arms, looked up at them and chimed in with a babyish voice, as if trying to join their conversation.
Amused, Alhandra jostled Wei’an in his arms, then turned his gaze to Qiao Song, signaling him to follow. “Let’s go, time for a health check.”
Wei’an, delighted by the jostling, burst into a fit of giggles, sometimes letting a little drool slip from his mouth. Alhandra didn’t mind, he simply grabbed Alhandra Zangshi’s sleeve and wiped it clean.
After a round of examinations, night had fallen, and the exhausted Wei’an had already fallen asleep and was carried back by the butler.
After carefully comparing the data, Qiao Song looked at the two Zerg who were on high alert. “Compared to the data you provided me on the female and male cubs, little Wei’an’s physical stats are relatively weaker, likely due to his two-year delay in hatching.”
“You don’t need to worry about his prolonged sleep time. It’s an outward manifestation of his self-repair.”
Alhandra nodded, his tension easing slightly. “The butler has already arranged your room. If you need anything, just let him know.”
The implication was that they didn’t intend to let him leave anytime soon.
Qiao Song nodded to show he understood.
After everything was settled, Alhandra returned to his room, staring blankly at the peacefully sleeping little Wei’an. From adulthood to now, through all these years, it was the first time he felt the worries of being a male father.
The little one was soft, clingy, and quiet, easily wrapping him around his finger.
“Quanfan has a high fever…” the robot butler beside him began to report in a low voice but was cut off before he could finish.
Alhandra’s face showed irritation. “Send him to Dr. Qiao. Don’t report such matters to me again.”
“Yes,” the butler responded and sent the message out.
On the other side, Yunlai, now permitted, hurriedly carried little Quanfan to the nearby medical building.
…
On the day when the fruit trees in the estate finally bore fruit, little Wei’an’s eggshell powder was finally used up. Now able to roll over and crawl around, he was about to have his hatching banquet.
For the Zerg, a hatching banquet is similar to a human’s full-month celebration, except that the hatching banquet is held on the day the eggshell is completely consumed. Once the eggshell is fully eaten, the Zerg cub gains more resistance, signifying that the newly born has gained a foothold in this world.
Having calculated this day well in advance, the Alhandra estate began preparations five days earlier. Luxurious items were used as if they cost nothing, even the carpet laid at the entrance was made of merman-woven shroud silk.
Merman shroud silk is so rare that each merman can only weave half an inch of it each year. Clothes made from this silk are fire and water-resistant and have a slight effect in calming mental frenzy, making shroud silk highly valuable and extremely rare.
Even the well-traveled Qiao Song couldn’t help but remark on their wealth.
On this day, all the notable Zerg families came to offer their congratulations, except for the two most prominent families who sent their younger members.
The wealth, power, and status of the Alhandra family were equal to theirs. Attending a cub’s hatching banquet personally would seem beneath them, so to show respect, they sent male children.
As for little Wei’an’s older female brothers, whether they were in military academies on the capital star or doing business on various planets, all of them except those who were still on the battlefield began their journey back three days before the banquet and should be arriving soon.
…
On the starship, Quan Fei looked out at the large and small starships heading for the same destination as theirs and smirked. The dark green Zerg patterns on his face moved with his expression, and his tone held a touch of mockery. “I never thought our male father actually gave us a male cub brother.”
Next to him, his second brother Quan Yan glanced at him, his voice gentle but leaving no room for doubt. “Keep those thoughts to yourself.”
Quan Fei hesitated but eventually swallowed his words.
When he was ten, he was beaten for no reason and made to kneel for a day. That night, not only did he develop a high fever, but his Zerg source also became agitated, and the bone-deep pain clung to him like a leech, almost making him unable to endure it.
In the end, it was his older brother Quan Yan, two years his senior, who somehow got their male father’s approval to send him to the medical building. Only after receiving treatment and surviving the Zerg source agitation did Quan Fei learn that Quan Yan had spent two days in the punishment hall, coming out with no uninjured skin left on his body.
As it turned out, he never actually got their male father’s permission; Quan Yan had acted on his own to send him to the medical building.
From that day on, Quan Fei only listened to Quan Yan.
As Quan Fei grew older and interacted more with other species, he realized how twisted and perverse Zerg society was. Once upon a time, he naively thought he could change the Zerg’s ways.
Later, he realized how childish and laughable that idea was. The Zerg could not survive without the male Zerg. Whether it was the female Zerg or the unhatched eggs, if something happened to the male Zerg, they would be the first to perish.
Seeing that Quan Fei had fallen silent, Quan Yan’s gaze shifted to Quan Ci, their younger brother from the same female father. Quan Ci, thirteenth in the family, had a personality more like their eldest brother—cold, strong, and stubborn. He had taken many beatings for that temper when he was younger.
“How is school going?” Quan Yan asked softly.
“Alright.” Quan Ci responded curtly with two words, scrutinizing Quan Yan’s increasingly active Zerg patterns before frowning and asking, “Is your Zerg source agitated again?”
From birth to death, female Zerg experience countless Zerg source agitations, but usually only once a year. If he remembered correctly, Quan Yan had already experienced one earlier this year.
Quan Yan smiled and deflected the question, and the others wisely avoided mentioning the distressing topic further.
