SGT CH209

209 The Xs’ Viewing Theater

◎(Full Subscription) Viewing Theater, Act One: The Zerg◎

Admiral X.

From an undocumented resident in the Dark Star Region and an infamous hunter, to the Zerg Empire’s Admiral, the Prince’s Female Monarch, and the cifu of Prince Ariel…

A triple harvest of career, Male Master, and cub.

A myth of an underclass female clawing his way to the apex.

An enviable life winner among the Zerg’s new generation.

The ultimate aspiration that countless bugs fought their entire lives to achieve.

What drove other bugs into fits of envy, jealousy, and sheer hatred, however, was that after many years of marriage, X still enjoyed an exceptional bond with the Prince.

The Prince had publicly declared that he would bind in marriage with X alone, spending the rest of his life with only him.

Influenced by innate racial traits, a monogamous pairing of one female and one male was never something praised within the Zerg.

Yet when an elite high-ranking male personally gave a solemn vow to stay devoted to one bug for an entire lifetime, it could not help but stir bugs to their core.

No, it went far past being stirred.

It made bugs want to possess X’s soul, or assassinate X on the spot.

Envious and spiteful to the point of turning into red-eyed Tianjia on the spot.

X naturally knew what those bugs were thinking, yet he paid it no heed.

Leaving aside that virtually no Zerg would dare commit an act equivalent to treason like assassinating an Imperial Admiral.

Merely the difficulty of assassinating an SS-grade female… made it a flat-out impossible task.

Compared to what outsiders thought, X cared far more about what mood the Prince was in today, whether he was overly exhausted, whether the dishes suited his palate, whether they would sleep in the master bedroom or underground tonight, whether he should wear his military uniform or a bathrobe, and whether he should put on accessories…

Contemplating this, X strode toward the dining hall of the Prince’s estate.

Before he could step through the doors, X suddenly felt space twist violently for an instant.

The firmament shifted from twilight dusk to a starry night, and his surroundings warped from the garden corridor of the Prince’s residence into a colossal round-table council chamber.

Everything occurred far too rapidly; even an SS-grade like X had no time to react.

Switching spaces in the blink of an eye, X did not panic, feeling only a pang of worry for the Prince.

The Prince was still waiting for him in the dining hall.

The spatial distortion had erupted less than a hundred meters from the dining room; he did not know whether the Prince had been caught in the crossfire.

Some unseen force seemed to guide X to take a seat upon a high-backed chair beside the round table.

Thick mist enveloped his surroundings.

Upon the other high-backed chairs surrounding the table, figures shrouded in mist began condensing into form one after another.

For reasons unknown, those silhouettes gave X an intensely familiar sensation.

The moment all the figures solidified, the mist dispersed.

X saw… countless versions of himself.

Himself clad in a Major General’s uniform, himself wearing a Marshal’s uniform, himself draped in a hunter’s black garb… there were even versions of himself wearing Tianjia military uniforms and all manner of peculiar, foreign attire.

Although each version bore slightly different eye colors and temperaments, they shared nearly identical features and auras.

More than enough for him to identify that these were all himself.

Himself forged through differing paths and destinies.

Still… why was there a Tianjia?

Admiral X looked at the “bug” across from him sporting the shoulder epaulets of a Tianjia Supreme Commander, feeling a distinct twitch of awkward distaste in his chest.

Simultaneously, the high-ranking Tianjia across from him—possessing crimson eyes and radiating suffocating pressure—was looking their way as well.

The second their eyes locked, the Tianjia’s brows knit tight, his tone dripping with sheer disgust and scorn:

“Zergs?”

The Tianjia Emperor could scarcely imagine that “he” would one day wear a Zerg military uniform.

His expression soured instantly, looking as though he had swallowed a live fly.

“How did such filthy trash manage to end up here?”

The one speaking was an X dressed in a Zerg Marshal’s uniform.

His face was cold and severe, his emerald-green eyes glinting with a dangerous sheen in the dimness, not conceding an inch of momentum even when facing an SSS-grade Tianjia Emperor.

“Heh,” the Tianjia Emperor sneered coldly.

“Creatures who kneel at the feet of males to wag their tails and beg for scraps—your very existence is a disgrace. You deserve to be purged from the family tree.”

The Zerg Marshal cast a look of pure pity upon him:

“A creature who has never once received a male’s love in his entire life naturally wouldn’t understand…”

“You—”

Having his sore spot prodded, the Tianjia Emperor slammed his palm onto the table, fury flaring before he forcefully reined it in.

“What do you know? We and Our Imperial Consort share a deep, unbreakable marital devotion!”

“Oh? What male would ever fancy you? Likely coerced and intimidated, taken by force,” the Zerg Marshal mocked mercilessly.

The Tianjia and the Zerg were sworn mortal enemies to begin with, like fire and water.

Military females held strict regard for military rank and grade hierarchy.

Lower-grade military females naturally gravitated toward higher grades, and lower ranks obeyed higher ranks.

In an instant, all the Tianjia and Zergs split into two factions, swiftly coalescing into two opposing fronts.

The Tianjia Xs rallied around the Tianjia Emperor, while the Zerg Xs stood behind the Zerg Marshal, locking into a tense standoff.

A clash was on the verge of erupting.

Shadow Guard X looked on at this farce from the sidelines, harboring zero desire to intervene.

Compared to those alien races, he cared far more about the other shadow guards around him.

A fifteen-year-old youth shadow guard, a twenty-year-old shadow guard dedicated to the Eldest Prince, a twenty-eight-year-old hound of His Majesty the Emperor, and a twenty-nine-year-old…

Competition among shadow guards was inherently cutthroat.

Only the most exceptional shadow guard could claim the mantle of “Shadow One.”

Only then could one become Master’s exclusive shadow guard.

The shadow guards kept quiet, each calculating silently in their hearts.

On the other side, Zombie King X and Ability User X stared at each other.

Student X from before the apocalypse sat to the side, still struggling to comprehend the situation at hand.

The Zombie King had promised Mu Si that he would never eat humans.

Naturally, he wouldn’t go out of his way to cause trouble for an ability user without cause.

Except… this ability user carried a psychic crystal core within his body.

Si Si might need it.

Coincidentally, Ability User X harbored an identical thought.

Mu Si had already given him the cold shoulder because he failed to bring back a psychic crystal core.

He had wanted so desperately to gouge out his own core and offer it up, only fearing Mu Si would refuse to accept it.

Since this other self had already mutated into a zombie, why hoard a core? Hand it over.

Pleasing Mu Si was its greatest possible utility.

Around the table, each X harbored their own schemes.

Just as bloody skirmishes were on the brink of erupting, white mist suddenly swept over the space above the round table, and a blurred scene materialized within the vapor.

An ethereal, airy voice resonated from above:

[The viewing theater for Reforming Scum Gongs: Rewriting Bad Endings into Happy Endings is about to commence. Act One: The Zerg.]

Every X was arrested by the shift in the space, temporarily standing down from combat, though the atmosphere remained frigid.

“What does that mean?”

“Zerg? Reforming scum gongs? Sounds like scum males. Who wants to watch the reform of criminal scum males…”

The Tianjia Supreme Commander’s voice cut off abruptly.

Because the male who manifested within the mist-woven scene was…

“Si Si?!” echoed multiple voices simultaneously.

“It is…” His Majesty, Master.

Shadow One’s eyes widened in utter disbelief.

Even though the Emperor appearing in the phantom mist bore hair so pale it looked silver-gold, possessed jewel-like heterochromatic eyes, and wore attire entirely different from the past.

A shadow guard could never fail to recognize his master.

The habitually cold, majestic Zerg Marshal’s expression darkened terribly as well.

Because the male upon the screen was his Male Master.

“Reforming scum gongs? What does this theater mean? Daring to treat His Highness the Prince as a criminal scum male to be reformed?!”

His Highness the Prince was clearly a peerless, perfect bug!

Soft-hearted and kind, there was no male in this world better than the Prince.

The Zerg officers all wore dark, stormy expressions.

Only Hunter X from the Dark Star Region, alongside Major General X who had been locked in the disciplinary chamber by the Prince, remained in the dark.

Yet they had caught the name uttered just now.

These alternate selves all called that male “Si Si.”

Hope flared in the eyes of the X from the Dark Star Region who had just lost his little male.

Unblinkingly, he stared at the gorgeous, noble male displayed in the holographic projection.

His little male had not died.

So this was what his little male looked like grown up.

Far more radiant than anything he had ever imagined.

Dressed in the most lavish attire, beautiful and refined, attended by countless servants.

Residing in a place that looked like the imperial palaces he had occasionally glimpsed in Zerg documentaries back in the Dark Star Region.

This nearly brought tears to his eyes.

His Si Si was still alive, living exceptionally well; that was enough.

Even if he never saw Si Si again, as long as he knew Si Si was thriving, he could set his mind at ease, never disturbing Si Si’s life.

Except… reforming scum gongs? What was this trying to do?

X’s face shifted abruptly.

His Si Si was still a little cub; what evil could he possibly commit?

Even if he accidentally harmed a female, it was unquestionably an unintentional mistake.

His Si Si had always been a kind, wonderful cub.

How could they force Si Si to undergo a cruel reform?

If punishment were truly due, punish him instead!

Having just been teleported from the disciplinary chamber, X stared blankly at the platinum-blond male in the holographic projection.

He could never mistake him; that was… the Prince.

The male who had lain beside him when he awoke from his chaotic dream.

The male whose chest had been… torn open by his own hand.

Stiffly, X looked down at his own hand, feeling as though his soul had been ripped from his mortal frame.

Under a Zerg’s formidable self-cleaning physiology, his hands were pale, clean, and unblemished.

Yet he seemed to see thick, burning-hot blood welling across his fingers.

The blood was scalding, bringing an incinerating pain, while his entire body remained plunged in bone-chilling frost.

Seated beside him, Admiral X perceived his abnormality, yet could offer no consolation.

He had personally ripped through the male’s chest, grasping that heart that had already beaten so feebly, making it even frailer, pushing it to the brink of death.

This was the lifelong nightmare of every Zerg X.

A horror they could never break free from.

Only when the Prince leaned into his embrace, his chest pressed against his own, letting him hear the steady heartbeat within, could his soul find a fleeting moment of peace.

Regardless of what the present Xs thought or felt, the scene woven from white mist unrolled like a panoramic holographic display.

The curtain rose, and the story officially began.

…

Leaning his head upon one hand, the gorgeous, noble male reclined across a sofa, long platinum-blond hair tumbling over his shoulders, his posture casual and languid.

Before him floated a translucent light screen.

Upon the screen, text surfaced:

[Host: Mu Si]

[Identity: Zerg Prince]

[Crimes: Forced genetic matching, severing his Female Monarch’s wings, destroying his Female Monarch’s future, locking his pregnant Female Monarch in the disciplinary chamber and abandoning him to his fate, causing the insect egg in his Female Monarch’s womb to lose vitality.]

[Scum Gong Value: 87]

[Verdict: You are arrogant, paranoid, malicious, and tyrannical. Your love is as cruel as your hatred, destined to meet destruction amidst hurting and being hurt.]

…

The Xs erupted instantly.