Taros had no idea what Zhou Qing was thinking. After giving them a brief tour of the Hatching Area, she continued onward and arrived at the Inner Ring.
Unlike the dim Outer Ring, the Inner Ring was quite brightly lit. However, the swarms of bugs all looked more or less alike, lacking the distinctness of the insect tide in the Outer Ring.
Perhaps their only similarity was that they were all diligent "workhorses." No matter how exhausted they became, they never rested.
Once an individual could no longer keep up physically—
Riiip!
Other bugs would swarm over it and tear the old, weakened bug into pieces, using it as food.
Zhou Qing and the others happened to witness this scene. They also saw that, aside from instinctive, reflexive resistance, the old bug being devoured put up no further struggle, as though it willingly wished to become food for the rest of the swarm.
"Working hard your whole life, only to have nowhere to retire when you grow old, then be carved up and eaten by the stronger ones..."
Romantina simply could not tolerate such behavior!
If she and Zhou Qing got together and she worked diligently for most of her life, serving Zhou Qing like a servant serving an emperor—having to go out and use her body to earn money when there was no money at home because Zhou Qing forced her to; then, once she grew old and could no longer work, having to give up all the flesh on her body...
Romantina would be so excited she would be unable to function.
But!
She could endure such suffering herself, but she absolutely would not allow others to suffer such torment!
As a knight devoted to protecting people's happy lives, she absolutely would not permit anyone else to suffer