MCDWTBS Chapter 56

Edwin and Serra exchanged expectant glances before taking their seats. In gatherings with male insectoids, female insectoids always kneel or stand. Although everyone knew Serra was different, Edwin didn’t think Sison and the others would naturally sit down unless he took the lead.

Even though he knew that, unlike a chubby young insectoid, a tall and handsome young male insectoid solicitously pulling out a chair for him, his gaze lingering on him for a long time, was indeed too strange for other insectoids. No wonder Sison and the others kept glancing at him, making Edwin’s earlobes slightly hot.

They probably didn’t understand that the strange relationship between him and Serra was a temporary measure. Serra was just his insectoid son, and to Serra, he was just his male parent. It was just that the insectoid son’s pitiful and longing eyes looked a bit incongruous on a young male insectoid.

That must be it, there was no mistake. Edwin didn’t think any adult male insectoid would look at a female insectoid with such longing eyes. The only explanation was that in Serra’s heart, he was still his male parent, and their… sinful and immoral mark had nothing to do with it. And that mark hadn’t destroyed the original insectoid son who lived inside the male insectoid shell.

For this, Edwin could only thank the snatch mother’s mercy for not taking away his insectoid son’s sincere and precious soul.

Thinking this, Edwin allowed one of Serra’s antennae to carefully circle his waist, providing support for his back, trying to ignore the gazes of the surrounding insectoids.

“Male parent, Edwin male parent, Lord male parent, it’s so good you’re all right.”

Ilia spoke first, his blue eyes, identical to Sison’s, flowing with tears that slowly fell down his snow-white skin. There was a slight dark shadow under his eyes, the mark of worry and fatigue, but it didn’t detract from his beauty.

“Bishop Sandersfi returned to Capital Star through the wormhole three days ago. Bishop Sass is dead, and the entire Capital Star is under martial law. The Holy See’s sanctuary is silent, and all the bishops and saints on Capital Star have been summoned back by the Pope… including the Saint.”

Ilia’s hands clenched into fists on the stone-patterned tabletop. His gaze flickered slightly when he mentioned “Saint,” but he quickly concealed it:

“News of the ‘explosion’ that occurred at the Duke’s Mansion has spread throughout many planets. The royal family’s news even pointed out the death of Bishop Sass, but the Holy See’s Capital Star and other planets controlled by the Holy See haven’t leaked a single word. Capital Star has even blocked the signals of the Star Network, but… the network of the wristbands is still intermittent.”

He gently raised his wrist, revealing a silver gleam identical to those on the wrists of other female insectoids and sub-male insectoids.

“The Holy See doesn’t allow female insectoids and sub-male insectoids to wear wristbands produced by the Noah Duke’s company. I secretly hid mine… After leaving Capital Star, I put it back on. Brother, thank you.”

In the energy field radiated by Serra’s mental tendrils, any technology and eavesdropping devices of the Holy See were useless. Moreover, Ilia’s own neck ring and the particle bomb implanted in his brain had already been destroyed by Serra, so he no longer concealed the affection in his voice for his family and the worry about the attack on the Duke’s Mansion.

Sison sat beside Ilia. Serra could see the heartache in Sison’s eyes, but he didn’t show anything, not even holding his insectoid son’s hand.

In this world, female insectoids mostly care for their insectoid sons silently, rarely expressing any emotions or engaging in any physical contact. Edwin’s male parent was like this to him, so that many years later, when Edwin thought of his own male parent, he could only remember his male parent’s rare tenderness, such as gently stroking the top of his head.

This was also why Edwin liked to touch Serra’s curly hair. According to his impoverished understanding of emotions, stroking the top of a young insectoid’s head was the way he was allowed to express tenderness as a male parent.

Serra actually understood that these were all survival strategies that female insectoids and sub-male insectoids had learned in this extremely oppressive society. The cruel society couldn’t allow female insectoid and sub-male insectoid young to have a childhood, because young insectoids who were loved and cared for were unwilling to grow up, unwilling to leave home and fight desperately, and this cruel insectoid world couldn’t tolerate timid and fearful female insectoids and sub-male insectoids.

If they were given too much tenderness in their childhood, it would be tantamount to strangling them.

But Serra had grown up on Earth after all. Humans had a natural protective desire for young insectoids. To him, Ilia, who was sixteen or seventeen years old, was a few months younger than him, and kept calling him brother. He had also seen the hardships and traumas Ilia had suffered, so how could he not care about his younger brother? Looking at Sison’s overly silent emotions towards Ilia, he felt particularly sorry for Ilia’s situation.

“Ilia, you are my brother, you don’t need to thank me. I was previously unable to protect you, so you had to temporarily reside on Capital Star. I originally thought my–” Serra barely swallowed the word “student,” and changed his words: “Saint, I I originally thought he could protect you well, but unfortunately he didn’t, and my relationship with the Holy See has become even more tense. Now that things have come to this, it doesn’t matter what news you bring, or what the Holy See wants to use you for. Me and male parent, and Sison, we are all very happy that you were able to come back safely.”

Serra’s words, containing a protective meaning, made Ilia’s eyes widen, and a few traces of childishness belonging to his age appeared on his delicate snow-white face, making Serra feel even more sorry for him–children of this age were still scratching their heads over function formulas or political problems in high school classrooms on Earth, but here, Ilia had to endure so much pressure and trauma, and he was even considered one of the luckiest sub-male insectoids: he was of noble birth, his male parent didn’t leave him in his childhood, and he also had Serra, a male insectoid brother, to protect him.

In the final analysis, the insectoid society sucked the marrow from the bones of all female insectoids and sub-male insectoids. When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact. No matter how noble the origin of the female insectoids and sub-male insectoids, or how good their luck, they would still be slaughtered, to no avail.

“Bro, brother…” Ilia seemed to have not expected Serra, as a male insectoid brother, to have such a strong desire to protect him. He was stunned for a moment, a very quick hesitation flashed in his eyes, but he slowly became firm and showed apology to Serra and Sison beside him:

“Thank you, brother, but I still have to go back to Capital Star.” His voice weakened in Serra’s disapproving gaze, but his gaze didn’t avoid anything. The young sub-male insectoid’s face was tender, and the golden hair inherited from his male parent shone brightly in the sunlight diluted by the glass, like a golden waterfall draped behind him. His delicate face easily reminded people of angels, and everything clean and pure, but the determination in his eyes was even more moving than his appearance:

“This time I go home, it’s not because of… escape or fear, but to represent the will of the Holy See and the Pope to initiate peace talks with the Duke’s Mansion.”

He said softly, seemingly afraid that his words would make Serra as angry and out of control as before, but Serra was completely calm at the moment. His antennae circled Edwin’s waist. Slight emotional fluctuations might make Edwin and the surrounding insectoids uncomfortable, and he wouldn’t vent his anger on Ilia.

“Can I ask why?”

Serra asked. He 100% disapproved of a teenage sub-male insectoid, who would still be considered a minor on Earth, taking a risk in a dangerous place. He suspected that any reason Ilia could give wouldn’t be enough to convince him, but he still asked patiently.

“I know you told me before that you wanted to help and get information about the Holy See. You did a great job, Ilia. The information you gave me saved many female insectoids and sub-male insectoids. The research institute was transferred in time, and our maintenance and promotion of wristbands will continue. You should be proud of yourself, Ilia, but no matter how important you think what you are doing is, it’s not worth you taking the risk. The Holy See has great hostility towards the Duke’s Mansion. You are my younger brother, which is why they sent you here, right? You are the only insectoid who can enter and leave the Duke’s Mansion now.”

Serra carefully looked at the reaction on Ilia’s face, knowing that Ilia was hiding something from him: “So you see, your situation will be very dangerous. The Holy See and us are irreconcilable. They can’t tolerate the wristbands destroying their millennium of management, and we can’t tolerate their continued harm to female insectoids and sub-male insectoids. Peace talks will eventually be fruitless. Ilia, you are very smart, you know your own situation is very dangerous, so why go back?”

“Because… I helped, brother.” Ilia’s eyes emitted a little starlight: “I saved other insectoids, didn’t I? I want to do something. I have grown up. I don’t want to be protected by brother and male parent… Although I am a sub-male insectoid, I am a descendant of military female insectoids, I can fight.”

He glanced quickly at his biological male parent, and Sison’s calm cheeks twitched, as if some emotion was almost impossible to suppress, but he said nothing.

“Ilia…”

Serra was a little helpless, but his words were interrupted by Edwin’s hand falling on his knee. This was a very intimate gesture, making Serra’s cheeks instantly hot, but he also knew in his heart that if his height hadn’t changed, this hand would most likely be falling on the top of the young insectoid’s head, a touch from his male parent.

“Brother, promise me. And… I don’t want to leave the Saint, he…”

Ilia seemed a little hesitant, guilt flashed briefly across his face. He seemed to want to keep a secret for someone, but his trust in Serra and his family outweighed other thoughts. He said quickly:

“The Saint is actually a young insectoid. He hasn’t developed at all, he just uses mental tendrils to disguise himself as an adult insectoid, and the Pope is very dissatisfied with his rebellion… The Pope has the remains of the snatch mother in his hands, a complete set of remains. The Holy See used some of the snatch mother’s remains to make some artifacts, including… the snatch mother’s rib bone in brother’s hand, and the neck ring that controls the Saint.”

Ilia’s words plunged the scene into shocked silence. The excessively shocking news left the insectoids speechless, and Serra spoke first:

“Did the Saint tell you all this?”

Ilia nodded quickly, and Serra’s ominous premonition came true. He knew that his rich second-generation student’s situation was as difficult as Yun Jiarang’s, but he didn’t expect it to be so unbearable, which made his head throb.

These two children were so difficult, what about the other two students who were nowhere to be found?

Serra raised his hand and rubbed his brow, and asked: “What do you mean by the remains of the snatch mother? The essence of the snatch mother is not in the form of an insectoid, her remains should not be…”

Serra said halfway, his gaze turned to the white bone ring on his arm. Yes, Yun Jiarang did wear a planet, but it didn’t mean that as “snatch mother,” she only had one figurative form of expression. The planet may be just her essence, and she may have □□ remains left to the insectoids, and that is why she can “possess” the artifact.

“I have never seen the snatch mother, but the Saint said… the remains of the snatch mother are a ‘woman’, I don’t know what he means…”

Ilia replied, but Serra’s heart was too tired to ask any other questions.

Now, even if he didn’t want to believe in so-called theology, he had to admit that this insectoid world might not really abide by the principles of life evolution. The so-called snatch mother may indeed exist, and the system has repeatedly hinted that this snatch mother is a woman, like Yun Jiarang. She probably created the first male insectoid, and then, she was betrayed by her own creation, and the evolution of civilization began to gradually derail.

A god. Even if it was just the remains, Serra could imagine how vast the energy of the whole remains was just from the power of the artifact. He always thought that the purpose of the Holy See was to become so-called envoys of God and seize power, but now he had a more terrifying idea.

The purpose of the Holy See may not be pseudo-gods, but “creating gods.” To this end, they, or their predecessors, have completed “god slaying.”