Chapter 44

Fred, as a key character in the original text, wore many hats. He was not only Vidonien’s fiancée but also Demian’s pen pal and devoted follower, and even more, Ludwig’s former subordinate.

As the protagonist’s foil, Vidonien naturally tried to seduce any high-quality female insect connected to Demian, and Fred was no exception. This was part of Vidonien’s character arc.

He was just a brick, moved wherever needed.

The strategy for Ludwig was already difficult enough, and now this dead end had been created.

Did that mean he had to, bearing the identity of Fred’s fiancé, gaze deeply at Ludwig and say—

“Ludwig, are you willing to be the little one?”

Shen Yu shuddered at the thought of those ferocious dark red eyes belonging to the female insect. He felt that the moment he said those words, the second playthrough wouldn’t be far off.

Forget it. In the current situation, he could only take it one step at a time.

It was precisely through his entanglement with Vidonien that this icy young general finally realized his feelings for Demian were not mere mutual affection between friends, but a desire for deeper intimacy and companionship.

The hall soon returned to its usual silence, though this time it was slightly different. Ludwig slowly rose from the floor, and the blanket on his body slid down his sturdy thighs to the ground, piling up in wrinkles.

Ludwig narrowed his eyes, his steel-like fingers raking through the hair at his forehead, slicking it all back. He tilted his head slightly upward and let out a scoff.

A sound came from behind him. Ludwig turned his head, his sharp gaze shooting over.

Number Two spun its round, plump body into the hall and immediately sensed a cold stare. The robot processed it, its vision capturing only a section of a muscular thigh.

The short, chubby butler robot lifted its round head and looked up at the mountain-like female insect. A flurry of garbled code flashed in its mechanical eyes. It hadn’t yet recovered from the shock of seeing the female insect, who had clearly been shackled to the floor a second ago, now freed and standing.

Ahhh—

Master! The female insect is rebelling!

Alarms blared in the butler robot’s mind. Its robotic arm shifted dramatically, but as a butler-type robot, it couldn’t produce anything intimidating. In the end, it held a tray in one hand and a spatula in the other.

Number Two glanced at its weapons, gave itself a pep talk inwardly, then thrust the spatula forward aggressively at the female insect and threatened, “You, sit back down!”

Ludwig lowered his gaze to the utterly non-threatening spatula in front of him. He tilted his head, casually twisted his wrist under Number Two’s vigilant stare, and revealed the mental shackle bracelet still on it.

Metallic, cold to the touch.

Ludwig spoke. “Your master removed it.”

Number Two saw the mental shackle bracelet on his wrist and felt a bit relieved, but it didn’t believe a word the female insect said. The robot jabbed the spatula forward and said, “I don’t believe it. Master has no reason to let you out?”

This robot wasn’t very smart, but it was unexpectedly loyal. Ludwig’s gaze slid over the code on the robot’s neck.

This model was an antique.

“Ah, how could there be no reason?”

The female insect found it amusing. A cruel yet pleased arc appeared at the corner of his mouth. The words he spoke were no different from a devil’s whisper to Number Two.

“Your master considered that you’ve been out of the factory for too long and are reaching retirement age, so he’s now looking for someone suitable to take over your job.”

A bomb exploded in Number Two’s mechanical brain. Ludwig watched its reaction, extended his hand in front of it, then twirled a finger to point at himself. “Oh, I forgot to tell you—unfortunately, this successor is far away in the heavens but close at hand. It’s right here, me.”

The round robot tilted its head up to stare at him and stammered, “I, I don’t believe it.”

Ludwig pressed his tongue against his teeth and tossed another bomb. “Oh, and his first task for me was to take care of Lily.”

He deliberately emphasized the two words “Lily.”

At the sound of “Lily,” Number Two froze completely. Ludwig dug in his ear, extremely satisfied to hear the sound of heartbreak.

While Number Two’s brain was loading, Ludwig casually probed, “By the way, who is Lily?”

The most threatening thing in the entire villa was probably this mechanical creation. He still didn’t know its origins, but back when he served in the Military Department, he’d heard that the White Prison once had a group of mad biologists who researched something like this based on scrapped mecha designs. It was later halted by the empire for being anti-insect.

“Come with me.” The robot swung its spatula dejectedly, turned around, then suddenly stopped and turned back. It looked up, down, up again, down again, and said, “You have to put on clothes first.”

Where would he get clothes?

Ludwig frowned and scanned around, then stretched out his arm, picked up the blanket from the floor with clear disgust, and draped it over himself. The female insect felt no shame whatsoever—the front gaped open, his bandaged body exposed, his sturdy, knotted muscles on full display.

Number Two’s mechanical arm pulled open the rainproof door. A gust of forest wind from the distant Vila Forest blew in suddenly, and in view were the vinewood trees of Azure Sparrow Hill piercing into the clouds.

Nearby was the male insect’s courtyard, planted with young vinewood tree saplings. Dew rolled on the saplings, growing in the shafts of light.

The mental shackle bracelet detected departure from the villa and flashed yellow. If he left the courtyard or the estate grounds, the bracelet would immediately sound an alarm and attack the spirit sea.

The courtyard contrasted sharply with the high-tech modern style inside the villa, fully incorporating Azure Sparrow Hill’s characteristics. Green plants intertwined overhead, and even the sunlight seemed tinged with pale green.

It almost instantly made one feel like they had entered a primitive forest, reminding Ludwig of his past experiences in the Leo Western Rainforest—where he insectified, sprouting exoskeletal wings, and soared into battle amid gunfire.

Ludwig’s blood surged. He held his breath. He hadn’t fully recovered yet and didn’t know how well he could fare against that non-insect creation.

Standing in the courtyard, Number Two suddenly handed him a small spray bottle. “You use this.”

Ludwig’s brows shot up. He stared puzzled at the water-filled object in his hand. He’d piloted mecha, built starships, fought in insectified form since activation, but he really didn’t know how to use this. In his memory, he’d only occasionally seen it in the hands of his former sub-female adjutant’s secretary.

Ludwig fiddled with the spray bottle, frowning as he rubbed the handle and pulled the trigger. Clear water shot out from the nozzle in an instant, a fan-shaped stream spraying right into the female insect’s face.

Ludwig wiped his face and cursed, “Fuck, what the hell is this?”

The robot glanced at him—couldn’t even use a spray bottle properly. How could Master choose such an insect to replace it? And a female insect at that!

It indignantly thrust the spatula forward.

Ludwig looked in that direction. On a flower rack on one side of the courtyard sat a rack full of transparent pots filled with translucent blue nutrient fluid. Nutrient wood floated within, and leafless white petal-like flowers resembling jasmine bloomed along the nutrient wood on the liquid’s surface.

Number Two’s voice rang out.

“That’s Lily, Master’s favorite flower. Lily needs excess nutrient fluid cleaned from her petals every day, and the nutrient wood needs replacing every morning. I already did it this morning, so the rest of the work is yours.”

“…”

Ludwig’s face stiffened. His fingers clenched, nearly crushing the small spray bottle in his hand.

Zephyr Alley No. 474 Street 12, Marigold Theme Restaurant, second floor.

An orange marigold stem about thirty-five centimeters long hooked aside the beige curtains. The warm sunlight of Zephyr Alley fell on the handsome military female insect quietly waiting by the window.

To avoid missing his tea date with the male insect, Fred had rushed over without even following his secretary’s advice to change out of this military uniform, which would deduct major points in a male insect’s eyes.

Male insects disliked military female insects the most—this was practically consensus across the insect race.

The golden olive branches and star insignias on Fred’s epaulettes gleamed under the sunlight. He smoothed the wrinkles at his cuffs. He felt no shame in this uniform; it was his glory and brilliance, a testament to his dedication, protection, and loyalty to the empire.

The young general hoped his future male lord would accept all his glory, just as Demian acknowledged it.

But hopes were slim.

Fred’s spirit sea issues had persisted in an extremely poor state since a large-scale ray plunder battle years ago. He had received voluntary treatment from male insects during that time—that was how he met Demian—but none of the treatments fully cured his spirit sea problem.

The Military Department urged him to form a marriage contract soon. If his spirit sea couldn’t be repaired, they would randomly assign him a male insect for forced healing.

His secretary had checked the public information: the male insect he was about to meet at the Marigold Theme Restaurant was a cub of the Sadro Family, already of age and unmarried—a rare S-rank male zerg, a perfect marriage partner.

The problem was, this wasn’t an easy male insect to get along with. Even a mild-tempered one like Demian had complaints.

Fred picked up his teacup and took a sip.

The Marigold Theme Restaurant was the male insect’s fixed dating spot—fixed time, fixed seat. The male insect met about four female insects daily, and without exception, each ended with a splash of hot tea and humiliation.

Fred’s inorganic gray prosthetic eye swiveled slightly, landing on the cup of hot tea across from him. The saucer’s unique wrinkled design spread out like a skirt hem, with thin, misty steam rising slowly in the air.

If nothing went wrong, that hot tea’s final destination was probably his face.

The tea entering his mouth was slightly hot—not an unbearable temperature.

Zephyr Alley was famous for its two rows of towering ancient buildings piercing the clouds. Strong sea winds howled through, and the second floor of the Marigold Restaurant was very quiet, clearly carrying the sound of wind from the street outside. Fred liked such wind; it made everything feel relaxed.

The female insect silently set down his teacup and twirled it in his hands. Heat pressed against the web of his thumb, but his face remained expressionless from start to finish.

“Cling, cling, cling—”

The restaurant had marigold-shaped wind chimes hanging in the terrace area, at the doorways, near windows, and above indoor decorations. They chimed whenever a new guest arrived, triggered by specific commands.

Someone had come.

“Tap, tap, tap.”

Footsteps ascending the stairs.

The footsteps were very light.

As the footsteps grew nearer, Fred’s grip tightened slightly on his teacup. He lifted his head to look.

The female insect’s pale gray prosthetic eye pierced through the swaying wind chimes and landed on the silver-haired male insect.

The beautiful male insect’s lashes lifted slightly. Beneath his misty lashes, ice-blue pupils shifted and met his gaze.

Fred froze.