IHNMSL Chapter 42
by Volare“One million, cash on delivery! You also know the market isn’t good right now, and the higher-ups are cracking down hard.”
“I’m risking so much! Only one million? You’re dreaming! You want a larva for one million? A dose of pheromones costs more than that!”
“But who knows if it’ll even live to adulthood? The larva mortality rate is so high, and it doesn’t look like a high-grade one. It might not sell for a good price.”
Two bugs who had been smuggled into Black Star were engaged in a heated bargaining session…
Had he run into bug traffickers? Little Ixus belatedly realized, wanting his daddy, “Wuu…”
“My daddy has money to redeem bugs, tonic! Tonic sells nests! How many zeros is a million? Anyway, Ixus’s daddy can afford it, Ixus is very valuable~”
Unfortunately, they didn’t understand Ixus’s baby talk. The little larva wriggled and wriggled, trying to bite the rope right under their noses.
His ideal was grand, but reality was harsh. He didn’t have the sharp teeth of a female larva, he couldn’t bite through the rope. He couldn’t even walk yet, he could only crawl and roll, there was no way to escape.
“Look at his face, his appearance… how could he not be valuable? When he grows up, he’ll definitely be a beauty!”
The two bugs, spitting as they spoke, finally settled on a price: three million, to be collected at another hideout.
How much was three million? Ixus didn’t have enough fingers to count; he hadn’t learned that many digits in math yet.
The little larva was terrified, tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t want to be sold, being sold, being sold meant he would never see his daddy again.
“Idiot! Stop crying.”
“Who are you?”
Ixus heard someone calling him; it was a larva slightly bigger than him.
“You’re the idiot, your whole family are idiots! Daddy says Ixus is a clever, genius baby!”
The little larva babbled a whole bunch, but because his pronunciation wasn’t right, the other larva couldn’t understand a thing.
“Tsk! Little thing, are you scolding me?”
While the bug traffickers were away, Ixus was quickly carried away through a hidden passage in the room by another, slightly older, larva.
The passage was extremely narrow, only children of their size could pass through.
The older larva was wearing old, patched-up clothes. He was growing too fast, and the fabric seemed too small, the pants legs were too short, revealing skin with frightening scars.
This was a lawless area of double-crossings. The fierce female bug who sold him wouldn’t be coming back. He would die at the hands of the buyer, someone had bought his life from above, and only a dead bug would keep a secret forever.
“Brother, brother, did you steal anything? I’m so hungry.”
Another little sprout came crawling up, squeezing next to the older larva. The malnourished larva was so hungry that his front was sticking to his back, his hair like withered grass, as if gnawed by dogs.
The older larva didn’t bring back much milk powder, it was prepared for Ixus by the seller bugs. In the underground city, it was a rare and precious item.
Just as he scooped out a spoonful, the little sprout, frantic with hunger, bit right onto it. The two larvae took turns, one spoonful for you, one spoonful for me, dividing up his food right in front of Ixus, eating without any manners, like two hungry ghosts reincarnated.
Ixus bit his fingers, wanting to cry again. That was clearly his food!
“Brother, what are we going to do with him?” The smaller larva pursed his lips, pointing at Ixus, and said softly, “Should we share a little with him?”
“Give him a little,” the older larva hesitated, reluctantly scooping out a spoonful, seemingly thinking he scooped out too much, so he shook it, shook out half a spoonful, “Enough!”
He had overheard the bug traffickers’ conversation. This little idiot bug was worth so many star coins, he couldn’t let him starve to death.
The little sprout had energy after eating, giggling as he picked up the soft, fragrant, white and clean little Ixus.
No one would believe them if they asked a big sum for the larva.
The older larva deliberately scared Ixus, “Valuable! Sell him!”
The little sprout echoed his brother, “Sell him!”
Ixus: …
Daddy, I think I’ve fallen into a den of thieves.
The older larva was very self-aware, clearly knowing that he couldn’t afford to raise a child. Relying on him alone to steal, they didn’t even know when their next meal would be.
“You’re cute, why don’t we give you away? Someone should want you.”
The older larva was checking to see if Ixus had any valuables on him.
The previous bug traffickers were in a hurry to sell Ixus, and hadn’t had time to search him carefully.
After fumbling around for a while, the older larva’s eyes lit up. His rough, dirty fingers opened, revealing a moist, exquisite safety buckle.
He didn’t recognize what kind of jade it was, but something so beautiful should be worth a few dozen star coins. Too bad it wasn’t made of gold, or he could exchange it for more money.
The word “Klink” was engraved on it. Did he know how to read it? Both the big and little illiterate bugs had never been to school, they couldn’t understand it. If he knew how to pronounce the word, he wouldn’t dare sell the safety buckle casually.
Little Ixus blinked his eyes, acting cute, “Kind brother, be nice, send Ixus home!”
“Ixus will have daddy repay you.”
“You say a number, one million… three million, Ixus’s daddy will definitely be willing to redeem Ixus.”
Language barrier was really the most heartbreaking thing in the world, it would be good if there was telepathy.
Little Ixus was desperate, usually he could only occasionally blurt out short words like daddy, hug.
“Home! Go home!” He finally said one sentence clearly.
“You want to go home?” The older larva asked him.
“Mmm-hmm,” Ixus nodded obediently, “Dad! Daddy!”
“—Money!”
“But do you know where your home is? It’s too chaotic here, no police will care. Why don’t I find you a good family where you can eat your fill?”
For the older larva, a family where they could eat their fill was the best destination.
Ixus shook his head like a rattle-drum, he only wanted Yao daddy, he didn’t want other bug daddies.
At the same time, a news item was published on the Bug Clan’s Star Network. A technology company in Central Star was suspected of being targeted by a rival company, suffering a large-scale alien beast attack.
Deep Blue was a top-notch technology company on the surface, but in secret, it was one of the Bug Clan’s major arms dealers, possessing many classified documents, and had close ties with the military. They had captured many alien beasts for use in weapon testing and development.
“How could the alien beasts suddenly lose control? Did someone open the control switch? So many researchers died… they must be severely punished…”
“Could there be an inside bug, who infiltrated the Bug Clan and sold our secret information to the alien races?”
“It’s clearly due to poor supervision. A group of under-trained technical bugs, even though the Charon alien beasts are a bit strong, they had absolutely no ability to fight back? Too embarrassing for the Bug Clan, they were slaughtered unilaterally.”
“Were you at the scene? Have some manners? If it was an ordinary alien beast, it wouldn’t have been so tragic. Those were lord-level alien beasts, and more than ten of them escaped at the same time. Your legs would have gone weak too.”
“Such a sharp tongue, be careful not to lick your mouth, or you might poison yourself to death one day.”
“Are there any bugs at the scene who can broadcast the situation? How serious is it? Such a serious safety accident happened on the main star, we’re really going to be laughed at by the other races.”
“Serving in the Seventh Legion, I’m nearby. You might not believe me if I say it, but when our troops arrived, almost everything was dead.”
“What do you mean almost everything is dead? The technical worker bugs are all dead?”
“Not bugs, alien beasts… alien beasts, do you know what a ‘sudden bug sent from heaven’ is? All the alien beasts were disemboweled by him, intestines everywhere, too gruesome.”
“??? Too strong, no bug would believe that! At least make your story more believable… unless you’re saying that the ‘sudden bug sent from heaven’ is the SSS-grade Admiral Chris, I’d believe it.”
“It’s definitely not General Chris, he just rotated to the M31 star system to guard, he won’t be back for three or four months.”
“I know who it is. Deep Blue’s internal bugs say it’s their technical consultant. He’s too unlucky, it happened while he was with his child. It’s a pity.”
“He just got married not long ago, it should be his male consort’s first larva, and it was eaten by alien beasts. I wonder if his male consort will divorce him.”
“Such a thing happened… is there a way not to divorce? If the male consort thinks he killed the child, he’ll definitely have resentment in his heart.”
“It’s still a male larva, the bug involved must be collapsing! Otherwise, he wouldn’t be crazy enough to dig open the alien beasts’ stomachs, flipping through them one by one.”
“You’re all worrying about whether his male consort will divorce him, I’m the only one who cares about how he killed so many lord-level Charon beasts? So many tentacles? Those levels of alien beasts aren’t something ordinary bugs can deal with. Isn’t he just an ordinary technical bug? He shouldn’t be a combat female, right…”
“Blind bug, you’ve noticed the key point. Maybe we should suggest that he join the military! @RecruitingOffice, why haven’t you grabbed such a good seedling yet? Are you eating for nothing?”
[A bug has uploaded a recording of the scene at the time]
“Worthy of being a ‘sudden bug sent from heaven,’ it’s really a bit too much. Is this still a real bug? Did I drink fake wine, am I hallucinating?”
“Fake wine +1.”
“I’ve worn out the replay button and still haven’t seen how he dodged the attack of seven or eight tentacles, broke the alien beast’s nerves with one punch, and opened its brain with his bare hands. Brother, I know you’re angry, but this is really too too too brutal. I suspect that in the next second he’s going to rush out of the screen and send me to see my great-grandfather.”
No matter how noisy the Star Network was, Chen Xing didn’t care. He dissected all the alien beasts, and didn’t find Ixus’s body in any of them. It couldn’t have been digested in such a short time.
The surveillance in the lounge had been destroyed by the alien beasts, and the few remaining playback fragments couldn’t provide any clues either.
As long as he didn’t see the body, Chen Xing wouldn’t give up searching for Ixus. The larva must still be somewhere.
Did some bug take him away?
What were their goals? The first thing Chen Xing thought of was, did some bug want to harm Yao? If some bug really knew about the child’s relationship with the Klink family…
No… it couldn’t be…
If those bugs really knew Ixus’s identity, since they were there for money, they would have released the news long ago, they wouldn’t have kept it a secret.
Everything that has been done leaves traces. The company’s security key had been moved, and there were signs of malicious damage to those protective doors. He would never let go of the perpetrators behind it.
As long as he found them, he could understand the truth of the accident that day, and find out where Ixus was.
He could rationally analyze all the clues, but he didn’t dare to think about Yao’s reaction.
“Yao Yao, you can hit me, scold me, punish me, it’s all right. It was me who lost Ixus, I will definitely bring him back as soon as possible.”
Yao didn’t expect such an accident to happen after only an afternoon apart.
“Baby ah… how could this happen…”
The little male bug’s eyes turned red. “This was an accident, Chen Xing, don’t take all the blame on yourself. I’ll face it with you, we’ll find him together.”