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The kind of egg-laying machine that a high-ranking male Zerg would lock up, hide away in the most secret royal nest, and pin down every day to... ahem, lay eggs.

Alone inside the Zerg healing pod, Su Lin clenched his teeth.

At that moment, he couldn't even decide which was more horrifying: being torn limb from limb and devoured by the ferocious Zerg as a 183-centimeter-tall human, or having his special identity discovered and being carried off deep into Zerg territory.

The panicked human and newly minted half-breed insect mother figured he would probably need a long time to accept reality, but he didn't have that luxury.

Before long, his healing pod was violently ripped open.

Su Lin was still asleep when it happened.

Half asleep, he tumbled straight out of the soft cocoon, coated in viscous healing fluid, and nearly cried out in pain. When he looked up, he saw not the petite Zerg who had been caring for him, but several Zerg figures blocking his path.

They were male soldier Zerg.

"Tsk, I thought it was just a rumor at first. I didn't expect it to be true. Our fair and great Captain Carlos actually abused his position to give a healing pod to an inferior specimen like this?"

One of the Zerg let out a grating snicker at the sight of Su Lin.

Su Lin looked at them, his body tensing involuntarily before he even came to his senses.

If he were still human, he would probably have seen the monsters before him as nothing more than "Zerg."

But now Su Lin realized he could keenly distinguish one Zerg from another.

The ones before him were fairly high-ranking, but their overall strength was nothing special. At the very least, they were far inferior to Carlos. No, they couldn't even compare to Hill. He had only caught their scent, yet the thought appeared with absolute clarity in Su Lin's mind.

Su Lin's assessment was correct.

The Zerg who had forcibly dragged him out of the healing pod belonged to Black Thorn. As a colony newly joined to the empire, Black Thorn was on quite bad terms with Pale Calamity. So when several soldiers happened to learn that Carlos had given a healing pod to an inferior specimen, they instantly felt they had found a chance to provoke him.

The disputes between Zerg colonies actually had nothing to do with Su Lin. But that didn't stop him from suffering for it.

Several Zerg soldiers from the Black Thorn colony approached him with interest.

"That's quite a pretty larva... Hmm, there's no mark from Carlos on him? That guy's as sanctimonious as ever..."

"Boss, are we still going to kill him if he's unmarked? What if Carlos doesn't care? We'll have racked up a violation for nothing."

"Wouldn't it be a waste to kill him? He's such a pretty larva. How about letting me play with him first? If I break him, we can always throw the corpse to that hypocrite!"

"Well..."

The Black Thorn Zerg who had suddenly appeared made no attempt to hide their malice. Su Lin wisely stayed quiet and still; he had no desire to provoke the Zerg before him. He carefully backed away, but his retreat only pleased them more. Most noticeably, the Zerg soldiers even began gradually shifting parts of their bodies into their original forms right in front of Su Lin.

The arms of the Zerg they called boss transformed into scythe-like piercing limbs edged with sharp serrations.

His scarlet compound eyes rolled around before settling on Su Lin.

"How strange. Why..."

Why did I suddenly shift into my original form without meaning to?

The boss muttered to himself, somewhat puzzled.

"But this little thing really does smell good."

He hissed softly.

Whether deliberately or not, he blocked his companions and was the first to reach the weak little larva.

Su Lin could no longer control his fear. He began looking around involuntarily, trying to find a way to survive.

Then he met a pair of eyes that seemed to be smiling, yet not quite.

It was Hill.

The man, who had appeared behind them at some unknown point, had been watching the pitiful sight of Su Lin being cornered by the Black Thorn Zerg.

"Wow."

When he saw that Su Lin had finally noticed him, the man leaning against the medical bay door folded his arms and gave a flippant whistle.

"Vice Captain Hill?!"

The Black Thorn Zerg, who had been so menacing and villainous a moment ago, abruptly drew in their limbs at the sight of Hill. They looked utterly rigid.

"W-we were just..."

One of the smallest Black Thorn Zerg tried to explain, but Hill cut him off abruptly.

"It has nothing to do with me."

He said.

"Besides, no one would care about an inferior specimen who was driven out long ago, would they?"

Su Lin could feel Hill's gaze settle on him. He looked back at the man and didn't miss the pleasure in his eyes. Compared to Hill, Carlos, who wasn't there now, was practically an angel.

Su Lin's heart kept sinking.

Clearly, because he had refused Hill's disgusting terms for "protection" earlier, the guy now intended to stand by and do nothing.

*

"Hey, little thing, what's your name?"

With Hill's tacit permission, the Black Thorn boss relaxed considerably. His enormous body almost completely loomed over Su Lin.

A Zerg hiss issued from his gaping mouthparts, sounding exceptionally sinister and cold.

And at some point, mucus had begun dripping from his mouthparts, which could easily bite through a steel plate.