MCDWTBS Chapter 30
by VolareSerra’s little mouth was slightly open, his eyes fixed on the deep shadows beneath Edwin’s loosely fitted V-neck. The black-haired female Chong’s warmth, and the warm, peach-like scent radiating from his skin, made Serra’s face flush red, as if he were about to spontaneously combust.
“Young Male Master?”
Edwin looked at the dazed male insectoid Cub with some concern, as if his soul had already ascended to the sky. After putting down the dinner plate, he gently poked the male insectoid Cub’s chubby cheek:
“Are you sick?”
As a female Chong, Edwin didn’t have the concept of a fever either. However, he had recently experienced the pain caused by male insectoid pheromone deficiency, which made him realize that fever was a terrible and unbearable illness. He frowned, ignoring the food he had just prepared, and wanted to bend down and pick up the male insectoid Cub.
In Serra’s eyes, the deep cleavage hidden beneath the V-neck and the shimmering undulation were about to touch his face. His short arms and legs flailed wildly, struggling away from Edwin’s chest like a turtle flipped on its back, his face burning hot enough to fry an egg.
Knowing that he was being lecherous, Serra was filled with shame. He quickly picked up the crystal cup on the table used to hold juice and pressed it against his chubby face to cool down, explaining in a muffled voice:
“Male parent, I don’t have a fever. Let’s eat.”
To convince Edwin that he was alright, he quickly released a few mental tendrils to help Edwin pull out a chair. He also used his chubby hand to pick up a spoon and shovel rice into his mouth, eating a large portion without tasting anything, before finally noticing a half-cooked flavor.
Serra looked down at his dinner plate. The contents of the plate were arranged beautifully, but it couldn’t hide the fact that the ingredients were either half-cooked and bloody, or the burnt edges had been cut off. Apart from looking like the food photos, the contents of the entire plate were a sensory assassin.
Serra’s stomach twitched slightly. He knew without thinking that Edwin had probably gotten the Chong’s local food recipe from Sison, a manual from female or sub-male Chong serving male insectoids. But this single-minded soldier, only relying on the appearance of the pictures, focused on the color and arrangement of the food, making the taste a disaster.
Despite this, the male insectoid Cub bravely raised a smiling face, ready to praise Edwin, but a small spoon was fed into his mouth.
The little insectoid Cub chewed. It tasted like crème brûlée, which Serra had made for Edwin many times before as their after-dinner dessert. Edwin’s crème brûlée wasn’t baked very well, the caramel had a slightly burnt taste, and the custard inside was soft and collapsed, with a bit too much sugar. However, it was the most edible food in the whole meal.
“Young Male Master, this crème brûlée was learned from Young Male Master. I’ve tasted it before, is it good?”
“Goo- good!” The male insectoid Cub chewed, but just as he opened his mouth, the female Chong gently and earnestly stuffed another spoonful into his mouth. The chubby insectoid Cub had to close his mouth again and chew hard, his apple-like chubby cheeks trembling like jelly, looking like a chipmunk storing food for the winter.
Edwin carefully fed Serra spoonful after spoonful, non-stop, making Serra’s cheeks bigger and bigger. He opened his caramel-colored eyes wide, only to see Edwin’s tenderness and satisfaction, causing Serra to swallow his protests.
Whatever, being fed like an insectoid Cub is fine, as long as Edwin is happy.
The male insectoid Cub’s little belly was stuffed with half-cooked food. He struggled to climb down from the chair, and was about to say goodbye to Edwin and go to the studio to continue working, when Edwin wrapped his arms around his armpits and lifted him up.
Serra narrowly covered his mouth with his chubby paws to avoid throwing up, humming and curling up in Edwin’s clean-smelling neck, shamelessly hinting in a low voice:
“Male parent, I should cook from now on, I love cooking the most.”
Cooking wasn’t a detestable chore, it just took a bit of time during these critical times. But even if cooking took ten times longer, his and Edwin’s gastrointestinal health was more important.
The black-haired female Chong hesitated for a moment: “The Chong Code says that female Chong must serve male insectoids and feed male insectoid Cub…”
The male insectoid Cub’s face wrinkled into a bun. Setting aside these disgusting social regulations, he really would be killed if he continued to be raised like this…
“Male parent, is the code important or am I important!” The little insectoid Cub cupped the female Chong’s face with his fleshy little hands, pressing his cute little pancake face against him, his big caramel-colored eyes staring at Edwin, and Edwin could almost see a line of words in his eyes:
“I’m important, say I’m important!!!”
“Of course, Young Male Master is important.”
The female Chong said firmly. The male insectoid Cub was stunned for a moment, then pressed his chubby face against the female Chong’s fair face and rubbed hard, making a satisfied little purring sound in his throat:
“Male parent is so good.”
Edwin’s lips curved into an extremely beautiful arc without him noticing, his chest filled with an extraordinary sense of satisfaction. He sent the little insectoid Cub back to the workroom, and only at the little insectoid Cub’s urging did he return to the medical treatment facility to rest.
Meanwhile, the insectoid Cub’s little fingers tapped rapidly, sending a string of text messages to Sison:
“Sison, don’t show Edwin the Female Chong Manual anymore, he doesn’t need it.”
“I hope none of you will need it in the future.”
“Don’t encourage him to cook.”
“This isn’t your problem, nor is it that he doesn’t have talent, it’s just that my taste buds are temporarily unfamiliar with his cooking.”
“Remember!!!”
Sison looked down at the fluorescent light emitted from his hand ring. After a long while, he lowered his head and fiddled with it, replying: “Understood, Young Male Master.” A “thank you” popped up on the other side, while Edwin was already looking at Sison with a questioning gaze.
Sison put down his hand ring and said to Edwin with a smile:
“I’m very happy that Young Male Master is close to you again, Edwin, you’re doing very well. With Young Male Master’s help to you and other female Chong and sub-male Chong, our situation will improve, maybe… we can also find out some of the truth from back then.”
Hearing this, Edwin’s eyes dodged a little. He lowered his head, his dark hair falling forward: “I don’t want to drag Young Male Master into these things, Sison, he’s still so young, and his body is so fragile… we don’t even know if he can complete his development, and if he can’t, his lifespan won’t be long. Even if his body is fine now, he’s still a fragile Cub… I can’t exploit him.”
Sison didn’t criticize Edwin’s excessive maternal instincts, he just gently observed the black-haired female Chong for a while: “You’re right, Young Male Master is a very rare female insectoid Cub, we must protect him well, just like he protects us.”
“But Edwin, some things, once you’ve touched them, you can never go back, you know? Like having pity for the enemy on the battlefield, even if you escape punishment, you can never be as innocent as if you hadn’t discovered it.”
Edwin’s eyes moved slightly, he raised his face, but Sison gave him a slightly tired smile: “When you were ordered to commit genocide on the Colmar Planet, I was your superior, Edwin, you don’t think I was unaware of your actions, do you? You and your lieutenant, Lian… led most of the civilians to the sanctuary, avoiding the surveillance of the Chong warships. I’ve always known what you were doing, Edwin, the Marshal also knew, he acquiesced to you, and he also allowed me to secretly help you hide the traces.”
“Sometimes, even if the order is issued loudly, and the preaching of the Church is grand and righteous, it doesn’t sound right, does it? You did what you thought was right, even if it was contrary to the will of the Chong Mother, even if it saved our enemies, even if…”
“Lian died in their hands.”
Edwin’s voice was as cold as a mountain spring: “The Colmar Planet refugee’s pirate group besieged the First Legion, the Church discovered their relics, Lian took all the blame for me. The vanguard was besieged by pirates, particle storms, and star beasts on Cat’s Eye Planet. To punish us, the Church refused any military support.”
“Lian and I were injured in the hands of the pirates, and he was devoured by a star beast to save me. Only this is left.”
Edwin opened his palm, revealing a black military dog tag, the name on it blurred.
“I can’t protect the Marshal, I can’t protect Lian, I can’t protect my subordinates. If I even harm Young Male Master—if I harm Young Male Master, then…”
“I can’t promise you Young Male Master’s future, Edwin. We are a group of female Chong who can’t see the future, our own lives are in danger, but I hope you understand one thing, Edwin.”
“From the moment he saved you at the royal celebration, Young Male Master has made his choice. What he’s doing may be far more influential than we imagined, we just don’t understand it yet…”
Sison’s gaze swept across his hand ring, the silver-white bracelet called the “Punishment Hand Ring” emitting a steady light, pulsating rhythmically with his heartbeat, as if it were also breathing rhythmically.
*
A few days later, Serra activated the central control system of the work station. After entering a few instructions, a galaxy floated above his work station, a microcosm of the dozens of planets occupied by the Chong.
The planets slowly emitted a shimmering white light, like a pure white Milky Way, flowing between the planets. Crimson’s electronic image hovered behind Serra. Where Serra couldn’t see, he lowered his head to observe the chubby Cub for a while, and asked:
“The network is built. I also established a sub-network, a shadow network hidden in the male insectoid star network. Even if the main network with your mental energy is discovered, the sub-network will leave them helpless, unless they want to attack their own network and cut off communication between the major planets.”
“Next, what is the Duke going to do?”
He asked in a hoarse voice. Days of work had left him and Serra with dark circles under their eyes, but his eyes were still bright.
“Professor Crimson, actually, I don’t know what to do either. We all know how difficult it is to voice opposition in this world filled with the Church and the male insectoid supremacy, but…”
Serra looked up at the silver network floating in mid-air, as if looking up at a silver python coiled in the universe. One day, that silver python would raise its head and devour the darkness of this universe.
“—I think I know what to do.”
He opened a simple page and sent a simple message to all the female Chong, sub-male Chong, and Cub wearing the “Punishment Hand Ring”:
“Hello, world.”