MCDWTBS Chapter 16
by VolareChapter 16: The Cub Takes His Male Parent Home
Female insectoids… Sub-male insectoids communicating with each other?
A dark glint flashed across Ilot’s eyes, but he didn’t elaborate on the topic. He respectfully took the robot Serra had given him and bid farewell to the silent attendants of the royal family, then left.
The massive Duke’s Mansion finally returned to silence. Serra pondered for a moment, then instructed Sison to “take care” of the Duke, handle the inspections from the Imperial Hospital and the Church, and then pulled Edwin, whose wounds were closing, towards the west wing where he lived.
“Male parent’s body needs to recover.” The chubby cub said to Sison with a serious face, “I’ll leave this place to you. After Ilia gets better, spend more time talking to him. Experiencing these things… it wasn’t his fault at all.”
“Yes, Young Male Master.”
Sison pursed his lips, suppressing the tears in his eyes, his face full of heartfelt conviction. In the shortest amount of time, he had completely become a believer of the Young Male Master, fully trusting all his arrangements.
The sky fully brightened, and the scenery of the Duke’s Mansion’s front yard and back garden was completely exposed to the light. The priceless beauty was displayed in its entirety for the first time in the eyes of the female and sub-male insectoids.
They gazed distantly at the Young Male Master walking away, and for the first time in their lives, they were so moved by a small figure. Many female insectoids felt their eyes moisten for the first time, but they were at a loss as to why.
They didn’t know that a new era was dawning from the moment the young male insectoid cub took the hand of the black-haired female insectoid beside him.
*
“Young Male Master, what Ilot said… is a trouble for you. Please consider it carefully.” After washing up, Edwin and the cub lay down in the familiar medical treatment facility together. His mental sea was tearing with pain, and the internal injuries in his body hadn’t healed at all, but he looked as if nothing was wrong, and even Serra didn’t notice his abnormality.
“Male parent, living isn’t a simple thing; there are troubles everywhere.” Serra changed into a small sleeping robe, climbed into Edwin’s arms, and yawned sleepily. His condition wasn’t good either. In reality, his current body couldn’t withstand the large-scale use of mental energy at all. Whether it was fighting against the Duke or confronting the Church, he was forcing himself.
Because of this, his body was sending out waves of bone-stretching pain, almost making him shiver. But he was, after all, an adult, and he didn’t want to show his vulnerability in front of Edwin. After all, in his heart, even though he was pretending to be a cub asking Edwin to take care of him, he had always considered himself Edwin’s protector.
“Your body is our biggest trouble right now, male parent. You need to recover quickly.”
The two insects, one big and one small, snuggled together after the storm, neither of them telling the other about the pain they were enduring.
The cub curled himself up, his chubby face resting on Edwin’s arm as he fell into a sound sleep, his cheeks puffing up like a little cat. In the darkness, Edwin looked at him with a gentle gaze, and after a long while, he sighed softly.
Just as he had told Sison, he didn’t actually have much time left. Because he couldn’t get the male insectoid’s pheromones and marking, his body was already at its limit, and his mental sea was even more chaotic. Releasing his wings today and being attacked had exhausted his energy.
His time had entered its countdown. The treatment of the top-level medical bay was like adding water to a leaky porcelain bowl with a small spoon, only delaying the time.
If only he had more time. He had promised the Young Male Master… to accompany him as he grew up.
Edwin reached out and traced the cub’s chubby, flushed face through the air, his heart softening.
Suddenly, the pain inside his body attacked. Edwin suddenly frowned, and a surge of pain more intense than pain surged from his chest, spreading throughout his body in an instant.
A transparent, smooth tear fell from Edwin’s left eye. He was extremely uncomfortable, and he couldn’t stop his rapid and noisy breathing even though he tried his best to suppress it. He didn’t know that it was the first time in his life that he was sad because of approaching death, and he was attached to life because of the cub he cared about.
He had never been like this before. Before meeting the male insectoid cub, he had saved himself on the battlefield because of his survival instinct, but when faced with death, he had never hesitated or feared. A life without attachment was meaningless. Edwin, like all female and sub-male insectoids, had been repeatedly told that they were meaningless.
They were sinful.
But the Young Male Master’s soft little face was close to his, and his childish voice told Edwin that he wanted Edwin to accompany him as he grew up.
Tears welled up in Edwin’s eyes, and in the midst of the pain, he slowly fell asleep, but nightmares followed.
*
Serra was awakened by Edwin’s violent trembling beside him. The sleepy male insectoid cub raised his messy little head and instantly woke up when he saw Edwin’s pale face.
The cub frantically hugged Edwin’s face, and his short, chubby little hands brushed aside his black hair to feel Edwin’s forehead.
Edwin had a fever, which was almost impossible for a strong female insectoid. The male insectoid cub frantically widened his caramel-colored eyes in the darkness and ran “thump, thump, thump” to the robot to ask for ice packs and energy fluid.
He dipped the energy fluid with a small spoon and moistened the female insectoid’s dry lips. The lights in the bedroom were turned on, revealing the female insectoid’s exquisite, ice-sculpted face, blooming like an ice flower in a desperate situation, presenting a strange beauty of a dying lamp. He trembled as he accepted the cub’s ice pack and energy fluid, but after a while, he began to shiver with cold, even talking nonsense:
“Male parent… I’ll be obedient. I won’t cry anymore. Don’t leave me…”
“snatch mother is above, open the door to the Hall of Glory for my compatriots… they are also your loyal subjects…”
“Marshal… Marshal Ax! No, don’t take the marshal away… no! They will kill the marshal!”
“No, no, no…”
“snatch mother, please protect the Young Male Master… accompany him as he grows up, safe… and successful.”
……
The male insectoid cub’s tense face slowly trembled in Edwin’s soft but heart-wrenching murmurs. A pair of caramel-colored eyes, trying to maintain composure, couldn’t hide the trembling and finally closed heavily.
“System, how can I save him?”
“The mission target will be fine, Host. You must believe in his self-healing ability. He is the god of war of the rebel army—”
“I don’t care if he’s a god of war!”
Serra suddenly shouted at the system, then suddenly reached out and covered his eyes, trying to calm his trembling breathing.
“I’m sorry, System, please find a way to help him… He’s very uncomfortable and in pain. I must, must help him.”
“I know that the hospitals in the Capital Star won’t accept female insectoids. The only place where female insectoids can receive treatment is the military camps on the border planet. I can’t wait… I can’t take him there.”
The male insectoid cub’s chubby little hand clenched into a fist. When he opened his eyes, his eyes were full of determination: “No, I can’t wait. I’ll take him there now! Even if the Church obstructs me, I’ll kill them.”
“Wait! Host, please calm down!”
The system’s girlish voice suddenly twisted, and it roared at the male insectoid cub who had already gotten out of bed and called the robot: “Even if you go to the border planet, it’s useless. The medical methods there are not as good as the medical bay! For female insectoids, self-healing is the only way out, and Edwin will not die! His body is very strong. It’s only because of the lack of male insectoid pheromones that his mental sea has collapsed. You can use mental tendrils to treat him!”
The cub’s body stiffened, and he turned back again, hugging Edwin’s pale face, clinging to him like a face-hugging cat:
“Tell me, what should I do?”
His voice was hoarse, and his head finally calmed down a bit. The system didn’t want to talk and threw a stack of data at him. He read it quickly in his mind, and soon, hundreds of dense mental tendrils emerged from the back of his head.
The tangled mental tendrils stirred, intertwined with each other, and rushed over, but then carefully touched the female insectoid’s dark hair. Serra’s forehead also broke out in fine sweat. His experience in using mental energy was too limited. Most of it was used to blast other male insectoids away, which was indeed effective, but to treat a delicate, near-collapsing mental sea?
He was afraid of making the slightest mistake. His tendrils were as careful and timid as he was, and they hesitated for a long time before finally probing in.
He “saw” a battlefield full of particle storms.
The female insectoid under the male insectoid cub’s chubby paws trembled slightly. The male insectoid cub grabbed the female insectoid’s fingertip and walked towards the center of the storm under the escort of the mental tendrils.
Everywhere were the wreckage of mechs and shapeless corpses. There wasn’t a single living thing. The yellow land was dyed scarlet with blood. Serra didn’t stop and walked forward step by step. His tendrils heard the heartbeat of a living thing before he did.
The only survivor was standing behind a sand dune.
Serra ran over, and the sky full of tendrils created a space for them that was not disturbed by the particle storm. And in this space where hope couldn’t be seen, the only surviving consciousness, Edwin’s, was spreading his broken wings, turning a deaf ear to everything around him.
He was hanging his head, staring intently at a metallic brooch on the ground.
Serra glanced at the brooch half-buried in the dust, reached out his short hand to pick it up, and then walked over and patted Edwin’s shoulder with a mental tendril.
“Male parent,” the cub said softly, “We should go home.”
The female insectoid’s lips moved, but he remained stiff. Outside the tendrils, the particle storm was even more intense. Edwin’s face was a bloodless pale, and the wings behind him lost their energy flow, curling and drooping.
Serra bit his lip. He tiptoed and desperately hooked the female insectoid’s drooping fingertip with his short, chubby fingers, holding it tightly.
“We’re going home.”
The male insectoid cub’s face showed stubbornness. He looked up at the endless particle storm, his caramel-colored eyes turning into pure ink black as his power was operating to the extreme.
“Wind, be still.”
A strangely pronounced word suddenly popped out of the cub’s mouth. The sound wasn’t loud, but it resonated with the space, like a divine maxim that had been lost for a long time.