INH: Chapter 26

Bonus ko-fi chapter

For the two human officers, today was the one with the most ups and downs in their lives.

As for the small planet surrounded by countless Yula warships, today was a day of great horror for the inhabitants.

During the time when the sky was obscured by the black Yula warships, the people of the planet had prayed and fallen silent. There were the pessimistic moments of silence and they started saying goodbye to their families. The atmosphere on the planet was extremely low.

However, this heavy atmosphere didn’t last. The Yula warships surrounding the planet disappeared, the sky returned to blue and the planet was calm. Were these Zerg just dedicated to scaring them? The inhabitants of the small planet experienced ups and downs and didn’t know what to react to. They could only watch the black warships in the sky leave.

“We should apologize to the leaders of this planet when we go back.” The warship had already started and Gu Huai looked through the transparent window at the planet that was becoming smaller and smaller.

After all, they had frightened the people of this small planet and hadn’t even greeted the leaders. Surrounding the planet was rude behaviour and they should apologize.

The chief of staff pushed up his glasses and bowed his head. “Wait until we get back to Tuser and I will officially send an apology to the planet.”

Since Gu Huai was on Alves’ warship, the other army leaders naturally abandoned their warships and followed Gu Huai onto the Yula warship. The four army leaders of the Zerg were staying on there and getting along well. The two human officers brought onto this warship thought that their experience was probably unprecedented throughout the entire history of the Earth Federation.

“There are only nutrient packs on the warship. The taste isn’t good but please eat some first.” As Alves’ deputy, Alger was naturally on the ship. He took out several nutrient packs from storage.

“These ones taste a bit sweeter.” Alger put a few nutrient packs he specifically selected in front of Gu Huai, hoping that Gu Huai would pick one to eat. He knew that Gu Huai didn’t like the taste of the nutrients so Alger’s expression was a bit anxious.

Gu Huai looked at the nutrient pack on the table and sat down, picking one up from the table. Gu Huai had previously taken a curious mouthful of the nutrients pack but the taste was really strange, making him give up.

However, now he was really hungry so Gu Huai didn’t think too much. He planned to fill his hunger first. Gu Huai opened the nutrient pack and tested the taste with a small sip. He found that the taste wasn’t as strange as last time. It was sweet and a bit like apple juice, so Gu Huai soon finished the nutrients pack.

Normally, a nutrient pack could take care of the need to eat for a full day. However, Gu Huai drank the whole pack and found he was still hungry.

Alger observed Gu Huai’s expression and asked, “Are you still hungry?”

Gu Huai nodded hesitantly and the Zerg around him stared at the two humans next to him in a cold manner.

“…” Shen Mu and Hammer were stared at by the group of Zerg and didn’t dare move or make excuses. They didn’t deliberately stop the other person from eating.

Gu Huai quickly understood the brain circuits of the Zerg and helped explain, “It isn’t due to them. I slept because my mental power was advancing and never woke up.”

“Then choose another…?” Alger spoke lightly as he tried not to frown in front of Gu Huai. “Once we are back on Tuser, you can eat what you like.”

Just thinking about the king being hungry made all the Zerg on the Yula warship anxious. Gu Huai looked at the several different nutrient packs in front of him and felt he would still be hungry after eating all of these, as if these foods were lacking something he needed…

The instinct derived from hunger soon let Gu Huai know what he wanted. This was the only thing that could supplement the energy he needed as soon as possible.

“…Eggshell.” Gu Huai touched his stomach with a complicated expression as he instinctively spoke the answer. “Eating other things isn’t enough.”

The eggshell of a Zerg baby contained enough energy to complete their initial growth. For Gu Huai, the energy he needed was so vast that it was hard to replace with other foods. His mental strength had finished the first advancement and before the growth was completed, Gu Huai still needed the eggshell as a staple food.

“I asked Yula to speed up the voyage.” Alves lowered his eyes in an expressionless manner.

Gu Huai looked at the big silver cat next to him who wasn’t happy. He could tell the other side wasn’t completely coaxed and had to reapply a technique.

“Chirp Chirp.” The two people were relatively close and Gu Huai deliberately used a low voice to call out the other side’s nickname. He didn’t know why this nickname had the coaxing effect but since he discovered it, Gu Huai wasn’t stingy about using it.

It worked. The corners of Alves’ lips imperceptibly moved. He was still expressionless but only coldness could be felt from his side profile. There just wasn’t a sense of hidden danger. In fact, the cause of this was actually—

Gu Huai thought he lowered his voice and the other Zerg in the room couldn’t hear what he said, but the truth was that everyone could hear him. His behavior in the eyes of Alves and the other Zerg was deliberately calling Alves by his nickname in front of so many people. It could be considered a type of intimacy so Alves was easily appeased.

Gu Huai didn’t know what he had unintentionally done. At this time, the big cat was so obedient that he couldn’t help reaching out to touch the other side’s hair. This move in the eyes of other Zerg was also a way of expressing goodwill.

“In fact, I’m not really hungry but it is better to go back to Tuser.” Gu Huai thought about it and quickly found another topic. “The flower you gave me last time has shrivelled. I want a new one.”

Alves listened and nodded silently, his mouth slightly curving.

“Bring me exactly the same. I think the flower you gave me last time looks good.” Gu Huai smiled at the silver-haired Zerg next to him.

“Okay.” Alves agreed.

Such dialogue might seem like nothing but for those who knew Alves found his attitude strange, regardless of whether they were the Zerg or unlucky human officers. Alves had no desire to submit to Gu Huai. The other Zerg were aware of this when comparing his deeds, words and attitudes with the other Zerg. Even so, he was still submissive to Gu Huai which was a contradiction.

The two human officers understood Alves’ personality from various anecdotal events. Apathy was undoubtedly the prominent point and there was also pride. This was due to the strong power and inherent nobility of this Zerg. Even if Alves didn’t intentionally show this arrogance, his carelessness in political decision-making and fighting would undoubtedly show it.

Yet Alves converged his indifference or arrogance in front of Gu Huai, even allowing Gu Huai to make arbitrary demands. Alves might not have given an order but the Yula warship had sped up by many times. Gu Huai rested for a period of time before returning to Tuser.

They had escaped but were brought back to the Zerg’s stronghold after a short time. Shen Mu and Hammer looked at each other but their mood was actually a big calm. Perhaps it was because they had already received the stimulus. Based on the attitude of the black-haired youth forcibly abducted by them, they knew they wouldn’t die for the moment. The two human officers accepted this reality.

Wasn’t it just visiting the Zerg’s Tuser star. It wouldn’t be so bad to add another stroke to their eventful life. They could only take one step at a time.

In fact, Shen Mu and Hammer had considered it when they were caught. Even if the death penalty was avoided, punishment for the crime would be difficult to escape. They would have to serve a big penalty and most of the skin on their body would probably be peeled off.

The two of them hadn’t expected that nothing would be done to them on Tuser. Only a metal ring was placed around their wrists. The metal ring contained real-time monitoring capability and location tracking. It was stuck close to the skin. The metal rings couldn’t be removed by them and there was also a poisonous needle inside. If the controller pressed the button, the poisonous needle would penetrate the wearer’s skin.

“The toxin was provided by me and hopefully it doesn’t have a chance to come in close contact with you.” Lisa smiled and spoke with a gentle expression.

The mouths of the two human officers twitched. The toxic wire was so terrible when it made contact with the skin. They would directly die on the spot if it penetrated their skin. However, the two of them never thought about running away or doing anything bad. Both of them weren’t stupid and couldn’t fail to see that the Zerg had changed after the appearance of their ‘king.’

The four armies had unified and this was a confirmable fact. The contact time might be very short but the black-haired youth gave them the feeling of a gentle and harmless appearance. That’s why Hammer and Shen Mu didn’t think about running when he invited them to Tuser. They wanted to stay and look at the specific changes in the Zerg.

The unity of the four Zerg armies wasn’t a good thing for the rest of the races but if the king who dominated their will was really as harmless as he seemed, things might be different…

In a short time, the two humans brought back to Tuser thought about many things. They carefully considered the observation plan but became stuck on the first thing they observed.

“It is ready. Please eat quickly.” The moment they returned to Tuser, the chief of staff hurriedly looked for the jar containing Gu Huai’s eggshell powder. Then he mixed it with the sap of the Pubano tree, had a colleague heat it up with his hand and hastily placed this cup of milk in front of Gu Huai.

The Zerg were all worried because they knew Gu Huai was still hungry. Once Gu Huai picked up the cup and took the first sip, their cold and tense expressions finally relaxed a bit.

Eggshell, milk…

Looking at the Zerg who used their abilities to make milk, then Gu Huai drinking the baby milk, the two human officers were stunned. They realized that the black-haired young man in front of them, who already looked like an adult, might actually be a baby who had just been born.

Then didn’t the two of them commit a felony in the interstellar world? They kidnapped a baby. Under Section 127 of the Interstellar Alliance Act, the offender who abducted a baby was punishable to at least 20 years in prison, regardless of race. Not being sent to the Star Alliance’s prison was a matter of luck.

The moment the youth finished eating, Shen Mu and Hammer received their first request to accompany him to the courtyard. The courtyard was still covered with snow and the pure white snow made Tuser a silver-clad snow planet.

Gu Huai wanted to understand humans in this interstellar era through these two people in order to find if there was a breakthrough in fixing the relationship between the Zerg and humans. Before doing this, he had to let the Tak Zerg watching him stop being so hostile to the two humans.

The first step was to—

“I’m going to bother you to make snowmen with me. It is because when you previously fell from the sky, you broke the snowman I gave to Karu. Thus, they are still a bit angry with the two of you.” If fact, they were angry about more than this but Gu Huai didn’t finish.

Shen Mu and Hammer could certainly feel the strong hostility from the surrounding Tak Zerg. If it wasn’t for Gu Huai appeasing them, these Tak Zerg would’ve torn the two humans apart. Then they thought about what they had done in front of these two Zerg and the two human officers glanced at each other without speaking.

Making a snowman wasn’t difficult but they did have to make more than 20. The three people together took some time. Gu Huai put these 20 snowmen into a circle shape. He could make these snowmen look like they were hand in hand but it was still good.

“These snowmen are for you.” Gu Huai patted a nearby Tak Zerg’s sharp forearm and specifically said, “The two of them helped pile it up.”

Listening to Gu Huai’s words, these Tak Zerg were slightly less hostile to the two humans in front of them. However, they didn’t forget that these two humans had also pressed their baby down and grabbed his toy ball.

Now looking at the snowman Gu Huai looked for them, the Tak Zerg continued to express their hostility but also felt there was something missing from the snowmen in front of them. Before long, several large Tak Zerg approached the snowmen. They stretched out their forearms and piled a small snowmen among the more than 20 snowmen.

Since there was no flexibility in their hands, the little snowman wasn’t as good-looking as the snowmen around them. It just looked quite cute because of its small size. It was surrounded by a circle of snowmen with red gems that seemed to represent their eyes. These Tak Zerg looked at Gu Huai’s black eyes and suddenly moved indoors.

On user, the black stone that was precious to other races was found everywhere. The Zerg who lived on Tuser were so extravagant that they could make furniture out of it. The TAk Zerg scoured the corner of the table for a bit of black stone.

After bringing back the stone, this Tak Zerg set the two small stones into the middle of the snowman’s face. They looked at the completed snowman and the Tak Zerg around Gu Huai let out low hissing sounds of joy. The scarlet vertical pupils seemed light due to such emotions.

The snowmen were them and the little snowman surrounded by them was the baby they cared for. This was what was missing.