Chapter 19

The girl said in a low voice.

Chapter 19

More than a century after the war between humanity and the Zerg began, quite a few people in the human world had become what were known as "Zerg sympathizers."

They were curious about the Zerg, eager to learn about them, and even somewhat fond of them. They would go out of their way to find information about the Zerg and were even keen to collect fragments of Zerg supplies left on battlefields.

By the same logic, there were probably so-called "human sympathizers" among the Zerg, too, right? If so, the dreamlike girl standing before Su Lin undoubtedly belonged to that group.

Su Lin stared at the girl, his face burning red and his heart pounding. In a daze, he felt as though his brain had been steeped in warm cherry wine and turned into a thick puddle gurgling with pink bubbles.

His mind was blank.

He wanted to know her name.

He wanted to know where she came from.

Countless thoughts jumbled through Su Lin's mind, but when the time came to speak, he became painfully awkward and clumsy.

"Ask... ask what?"

The words came out stiffly. Then his tongue seemed to stick to the roof of his mouth, and he couldn't squeeze out another word. Only the heat in his face kept rising.

Compared with the utterly awkward young man, the Zerg girl, who looked delicate, guileless, and a little shy, seemed much more at ease.

"Ah, that's wonderful."

She covered her mouth and smiled.

"I have so, so many things I want to ask..."

After that, the girl eagerly asked Su Lin all sorts of questions about the human world: what humans usually ate and wore, how they worked, how they passed the time...

Through this series of questions, Su Lin could vaguely tell that most of what this Zerg girl, who was endlessly curious about the human world, knew about humans actually came from the shocking, indecent human-Zerg literature in the library, as well as all kinds of bizarre human-made human-Zerg idol romance dramas.

Perhaps that was why, among her normal questions, there were occasionally some astonishing ones that left Su Lin speechless.

"It's actually very difficult for Zerg who aren't in their breeding season to leave enough reproductive cells inside another living creature. Would humans be very disappointed if that happened to their partner?"

Su Lin: "Huh?"

"Also, in our original form, we Zerg usually have lots of barbs and ridges on our 'beep-.' If we 'beep-beep' with humans in that state, the fragile humans would actually get hurt. But if we don't 'beep' with humans in our original Zerg form, they'd probably dislike it, wouldn't they?"

Su Lin: "Huhhh???"

"Can only five children at most be admitted to a nearby school under one school district property? Ah, what are we going to do, then? We Zerg generally hatch around three to five hundred eggs at a time..."

Su Lin: "Wait?"

Su Lin stared blankly at the girl before him. Hearing these shocking questions, he didn't dare ask which human-written "masterpiece" had given her such wildly mistaken ideas.

After all, no matter how he looked at it, no credible expert on human-Zerg relations would think that any human would actually enjoy having a Zerg lay eggs inside their body, let alone 'beeping' with a Zerg in its original form, right?!

"S-sorry, please listen to me. Humans really aren't like that-"

The sense of duty to correct another species' misconceptions about humanity finally overcame the straight human man's overwhelming fluster. Although he still stammered as he spoke, he forced himself to correct some of the girl's strange ideas in a very quiet voice.

Of course, whenever he met the girl's golden eyes in the process, his mouth still went dry and his heart fell into turmoil, leaving him stumbling over every sentence.

...Even Su Lin himself felt as though he didn't seem very intelligent right now.

Yet even faced with him in all his awkwardness and clumsiness, the girl remained exceptionally patient and understanding.

That almost guileless curiosity and openness gave Su Lin an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

A vague thought flashed through the depths of Su Lin's mind, but he had no attention to spare for examining it.

How could a Zerg girl be so cute?! Su Lin felt as though his heart was about to melt.

After finally managing to explain the basics of the human world in a stilted manner-especially emphasizing that normal humans couldn't possibly be interested in things like Zerg original-form play or having eggs laid inside their bodies!-he finally mustered his courage and, with great difficulty, squeezed out a question.

"You..."

What's your name?

Su Lin had intended to ask her name, but the moment he met her clear gaze, his mind went blank again.

"You... you seem to really like humans."

Somehow, that was what came out instead.

The girl froze.

"Ah, do I like humans?"

Her delicate brows drew together slightly, as though she were troubled by something.

After a long while, she seemed to come to a sudden realization and beamed at Su Lin.

"I don't like humans as a species."

Her voice was still just as gentle and sweet, and as she spoke, her expression still had that innocent, delicate air.

Yet after hearing her words, Su Lin shivered for no apparent reason.

"What... do you mean?"

Su Lin couldn't help staring in surprise.

The girl walked toward Su Lin, one step at a time.

Until then, Su Lin had been pressed tightly against the bookshelf, afraid to move for fear of imposing on her. The distance between them had caused him to overlook the one thing about her that didn't match his ideal of a dream girl.