Chapter 41 Part 2

The roughly two-meter-tall mechanical construct bent down, clumsily picking up the umbrella from the ground and holding it over Shen Yu.

Rain poured. Cold wind blew through the deep alley, tousling the male insect’s silver hair tips in the night.

Shen Yu lowered his gaze and asked 007: 【If the process is wrong but the result is right, will it be discovered?】

Though Shen Yu didn’t consider these worlds real, he had no hobby of slicing live people in a virtual one either.

Plus, with a few swings like that, he’d probably end up hand-in-hand with 007 for a second loop, just like the last world.

007 clearly thought of this too. It paused silently, frowning before speaking: 【As long as everything the host does aligns with the character, in theory, it shouldn’t be discovered.】

007’s reply was a reassuring pill.

Shen Yu straightened his cuffs, smoothing out the wrinkles inch by inch with his palms.

After tidying his cuffs, the male insect slightly tilted his head and reached back to touch his nape. The skin there felt hot and frictional. He rubbed his nape as his gaze fell on the female insect’s severed thick arm.

Just moments ago, this arm had carried terrifying killing intent, nearly strangling him to death.

Now it lay split in two.

Lily’s blade had sliced diagonally through Ludwig’s upper arm from the middle, leaving a flat cross-section. Thanks to the female insect’s astonishing regenerative power, the flesh and blood inside the arm writhed wildly at that moment, growing into mature new tissue.

This time, Shen Yu could observe the entire wound-healing process from a better vantage point.

He squatted in front of Ludwig, his gaze coldly fixed on the female insect’s arm where blood gushed out.

The black combat suit’s fabric clung to threads of blood, the cross-section a mushy mess. The blood vessels in the muscles automatically stanched the flow, sealing in the lost blood.

Tendons reshaped themselves, flesh knitted together, and new blood vessels formed, carrying nutrients and oxygen as they grew into the muscle tissue.

Shen Yu’s eyelashes trembled slowly, his breathing steadying.

He had an idea.

The newborn flesh was extremely sensitive. As the male insect drew near, his butterfly-like eyelashes quivered downward. His breath washed over the flesh, bringing an itch so fine it bordered on terrifying.

Ludwig frowned.

Shen Yu extended his hand. His fingertip landed curiously on a blood vessel. The touch was sticky, like a fish fresh from water, parched and dying. The vessel’s mucosa met the male insect’s scalding fingertip and jerked upward fiercely.

Ludwig’s scalp tingled instantly. His pupils contracted, and a threatening rumble vibrated from his throat. “You… seek… death?”

“Although I don’t know what’s wrong with you, right now you look—” Shen Yu paused, then said teasingly, “No different from a dog on the chopping board.”

“You seem like this one hand is all you can move?” Shen Yu grew tired of squatting and stood back up. He looked down at the female insect propped against the wall.

“But even with just one arm, you’re still a huge threat. Looks like I need to find a good way to make you obey.”

“How about this—” Shen Yu bargained with a smile. “You move once, I chop once. What do you think?”

007: 【The host has a talent for being a devil.】

Ludwig: “……”

Shen Yu’s fingertip still bore slippery blood. He thrust his hand out from under the umbrella. Cold rainwater fell, pooling into bloody water in his palm.

Shen Yu shook his palm, and the bloody water sloshed with it.

He pulled his hand back, flipped his palm outward, and poured the bloody water onto the female insect’s face.

The glove had slipped down to the nape. The bloody water slid along the female insect’s prominent, mountain-like nose bridge, flowing to both sides like crimson rivulets over cold, hard facial contours. Some dripped from the taut jawline to the neck, staining the glove’s white silk fabric in crimson strands.

Crack.

The taut string in Ludwig’s mind finally snapped.

The female insect’s breathing quickened. His chest heaved like a volcano with each breath, veins bulging at his temples. His suppressed spirit sea surged wildly once more.

After successive heavy blows, it had degraded and rioted, so his master had forcibly suppressed it for self-recovery. Any slight disturbance triggered skull-splitting agony, no less than dying again.

No female insect could manifest an exoskeleton with a damaged spirit sea.

Crack, crack—

This was the sound of bones breaking and reforming inside the female insect as an exoskeleton prepared to emerge.

The next second, Ludwig heard the male insect’s puzzled voice.

“Huh? You can still insectize?”

Then—

“Lily, knock him out.”

Almost instantly, clang—a heavy blow.

Ludwig felt his forehead jolt. The world plunged into darkness again. The female insect’s dark red head lolled sideways like a broken doll.

The massive iron hammer—roughly two basketballs in size—completed its task and retracted silently, reverting to a cold mechanical arm.

Aside from the flowing silvery glow, blood stained the arm, soon washed away by the rain.

Shen Yu propped his chin, staring at the fainted behemoth before him. He kicked out with his foot. The female insect showed no reaction—truly out cold.

But even unconscious, the arm regenerated wildly and soon restored itself. Bare without fabric cover, the female insect’s arm was revealed in all its thickness: bulging muscles like hillocks, utterly intimidating.

Rain poured down. The Inner-Eight Calico Cat that had fled earlier sensed the threat gone and darted back from the darkness.

It padded forward elegantly, skirting the bloody severed arm in the puddle, and stopped a meter from Shen Yu.

The calico raised its round head and let out a pitiful, pinched meow at Shen Yu. Its cat eyes gazed wetly at the insect before it.

The silver-haired male insect, pure in quality and soul, gave it a glance before looking away.

Sensing no danger, the calico shook its head. Its front paws scrabbled up, and it leaped agilely onto a nearby trash lid to rummage for food.

Shen Yu withdrew his gaze. Endless lonely night and neon lights surged toward him.

The male insect’s drooping silver eyelashes fluttered like the wings of glowing butterflies.

He snapped his fingers and pointed at the motionless female insect on the ground. He instructed Lily:

“Chop it up, package it, and take it home.”

Ludwig awoke last on the cold floor.

His heavily damaged spirit sea had worsened further from the forced activation, growing even darker and deeper. Only layers of roiling black clouds were visible.

A spirit sea in such poor condition not only hindered exoskeleton deployment but also sharply reduced the female insect’s recovery rate, infinitely amplifying pain sensations.

That was why some imperial male insects particularly favored tormenting female insects with vulnerable spirit seas—for greater pleasure.

Ludwig opened his eyes. He had no idea how long he’d been out or where he was, but based on memories before blacking out, the male insect had brought him back to his residence.

This was far from good news.

Midway through, mental agony had wrenched him awake once. Though he couldn’t open his eyes, he’d sensed his surroundings clearly enough not to miss the male insect’s words.

Recalling those words, killing intent flashed through Ludwig’s narrow dark red eyes.

He dragged his pain-racked body upright against the wall. Muscles tensed throughout, like a leopard lying in wait. He quietly scanned his surroundings.

Crystal chandelier lights dazzled his vision, luxurious fabrics everywhere.

The hall favored white tones, with intricately carved furniture arranged neatly and showing little wear. The vast living room felt emptily cold as a result, devoid of life.

Eerily so.

Ludwig furrowed his brow.

Though he yearned to dismember this damned male insect into a thousand pieces, no one understood better than him the fatal allure male insects held for female insects.

Dim lighting and muddled consciousness had kept him from seeing the male insect’s full face, but the pheromone scent clinging to his nose was far beyond low-grade quality and purity.

In the empire, male insects were idolized. Upon adulthood, they entered the Main Brain’s Mating System. Bringing dates home was routine.

Even without a date, female servants or female slaves should handle amusement.

Yet this living room bore zero traces of female insect occupancy.

Deeply suspicious.

Buzz buzz buzz—

A faint vibration hummed.

Ludwig tensed instantly, his gaze snapping over.

The housekeeper robot—designed short and plump—adored housework. It wielded a vacuum cleaner, trundling about in cleaning mode.

Lily No. 2 sported a pink work apron around its round waist. It pushed a retro vacuum from the kitchen, twirling in circles as its program played an “I love housework” tune.

It danced along with sliding steps, bobbing its head and humming silently in joyful labor.

Suddenly, it sensed a gaze like a physical weight from behind.

Lily No. 2 froze, then slowly turned its head to meet Ludwig’s icy stare.

Under that inhuman scrutiny, the robot’s eyes spun sluggishly. It finally confronted the unacceptable truth—

It, the almighty housekeeper robot, had failed its master’s command for the first time in eighteen years since production.

Time rewound to half an hour earlier.

“Make me a cup of hot roasted milk.”

As BLESS Technology’s seventeenth-generation nanny robot, designed to nurture young male insects, Lily No. 2 boasted level-ten roasted milk mastery.

It brewed a base of black tea, adding roses, red dates, rock sugar, and milk cubes for a fragrant, warm brew rich in layered flavors. It earned the master’s approval at last.

Then came the second command.

Under the living room lights, Lily slammed the female insect to the ground. Its mechanical limbs retracted, the entire frame contracting and folding rapidly into terminal form. The four support struts at the dial’s base embedded into Shen Yu’s subcutaneous skeleton.

Shen Yu cradled the steaming roasted milk, feeling faint warmth through the brown canister in his palm. He sipped, warmth flowing into his stomach.

Blood scented the air. The male insect looked down at the female insect by his feet.

A congealed bloody heap—so much blood, anyone would mistake it for mere flesh refuse. Yet it wasn’t. The female insect’s body was intact, somehow fully remade in the mere two hours since arriving at the estate.

Aside from the bizarre excess of blood, no signs remained of being diced up. It resembled a humanoid sculpted from blood.

Shen Yu sipped the roasted milk. Its creamy texture filled his mouth with fragrance. Suddenly, he empathized with Vidonien.

Roasted milk was truly delicious.

Shen Yu spoke to the nearby robot. Its mechanical eyes beamed hearts, fixated on him drinking sip by sip. Its expression grew ever more loving and gratified.

“Clean him up. Contact the family doctor to heal him. Later…”

Shen Yu paused, frowning faintly as if struck by a thought. “But that might expose us? Number Two, can you heal him?”

The robot’s two glowing red heart eyes glitched instantly. Lines twisted in panic before flatlining into a forlorn straight line, colorless.

Never equipped with female insect medical protocols, the rotund robot couldn’t process the request. This meant… it couldn’t fulfill its master’s wish.

Couldn’t fulfill the master’s wish…

That realization erased all joy from its perfect roasted milk triumph.

Its face went blank, dejection like the sky collapsing.

The female insect at his feet lay still. The body had reformed, but Lily’s hammer blow kept him comatose—no faking that.

Shen Yu’s eyes gleamed. Seizing Ludwig’s unconscious state—unable to hear—he unleashed a torrent of lines to grind persona points.

“Number Two, I need you to heal him. This is a dog I finally took a liking to. It’d be such a waste if he died now.”

Shen Yu actually wanted to tell Number Two to drag out the healing—buy as much time as possible. Villains bolted once healed; more delay meant more favorability grinding.

But he couldn’t drop character. So with a straight face, he spouted the opposite of his conscience:

“Let’s patch him up quick, then play nice and slow. How’s that?”