SGT CH227

Chapter 227: Transmigrating Back to the Ancient Era When Female Zergs Were Still Called Soldier Bugs 1

Mu Si woke up within a lush, verdant primeval forest.

The trees were towering and massive, their crowns blotting out the sun and sky.

The sunlight filtering through the gaps in the canopy carried a dazzling warmth.

He did not know why he was here.

His head throbbed with a dull ache, as though shrouded in a heavy layer of fog.

He seemed to have lost a portion of his memories.

A rustling sound caught his attention. Alert, he turned to look, only to see a tall, black-haired female stepping out from behind several-meter-tall shrubs.

The female spotted him as well. His expression was even graver than Mu Si’s, scanning the surroundings with sharp, bewildered vigilance, as if confirming whether other bugs were nearby.

Yet the moment Mu Si caught sight of the female’s firefly-like emerald eyes, the tension clutched tight in his chest suddenly dissolved. Tinged with a pleasant surprise, a name blurted out without a second thought:

“X!”

The expression on the female across from him grew even more baffled.

Staring at him, catching his scent drifting on the wind, his posture remained thoroughly guarded.

“A male… a solitary male?”

Standing in the distance, the black-haired female asked stiffly:

“Where is your colony?”

Mu Si couldn’t understand what he was asking; a word like “colony” was far too ancient for him.

The territory of the Zerg Empire spanned hundreds of thousands of light-years; no one ever asked questions like “Where is your colony?”, for the entire Zerg star system was one civilization.

Yet beholding a bug who exuded such intense familiarity and intimacy in a strange place like this brought boundless joy to Mu Si.

Although he couldn’t remember more details, he felt this bug was someone he could trust—an extraordinarily important bug.

He couldn’t wait to be by his side.

Rising from the ground, he strode toward the female.

The other stiffened at his approach, instinctively wanting to step back, only to bump straight into the tree behind him.

“What’s wrong? Why do you look so afraid of me?” Mu Si asked in confusion.

The female was clearly so tall and robust; he could feel the terrifying physical power coiled beneath those muscles, claws capable of tearing him to shreds with ease.

Yet the look the other gave him was as though staring at something dangerous—an existence that even the mightiest female could not handle.

Puzzled, he sized up the black-haired female who treated him like a formidable enemy, drawing closer with every word until their bodies pressed against each other.

The female sprang away violently—almost leaping back—retreating several meters in an instant, staring at him from a distance with lingering shock.

Mu Si had never been rejected like this by any bug, especially not X.

Even having forgotten many things, his subconscious told him they shared an intimate bond.

Unable to fathom why this was happening, he felt somewhat hurt.

Catching his expression, the black-haired female gritted his teeth and emphasized:

“I am a soldier bug!”

It sounded like he was introducing his profession—a soldier, or a military female.

Yet that was evidently not what the other meant.

Because immediately after, he blurted out:

“You shouldn’t be courting me! You should go find an Insect Queen! I—I…”

The black-haired female… soldier bug trailed off.

Following that was likely a universally known yet unspeakable reality.

Except Mu Si understood none of it.

The other’s vocabulary was simply far too archaic.

Still, he could tell the other was refusing his intimacy, refusing his courtship.

Even though he hadn’t intended to court him just now.

How could this be allowed? How could he reject him?

Having finished those words, the female who called himself a soldier bug turned on his heel to leave.

Mu Si stubbornly followed.

A terrain littered with fallen leaves and tangled underbrush was difficult to traverse—or rather, there was no path at all.

The soldier bug strode swiftly ahead, glancing back occasionally; seeing him persistently tailing behind, his cold, hardened face betrayed a complex, anxious restlessness.

After walking for an unknown duration, Mu Si felt a little hungry.

Raising a hand to press against his stomach, the soldier bug ahead suddenly stopped, and in the next blink, vanished.

Vanished without a trace in a split second.

A speed akin to teleportation.

Only then did Mu Si realize that the other’s prior walking pace had entirely been accommodating him.

Now, he was done playing this game.

He had ditched him.

Surrounded on all sides by identical towering trees, Mu Si couldn’t find his silhouette and panicked for a second.

“X? X?!”

He called out twice, receiving no answer.

Belatedly, he remembered he possessed mental power.

But how was mental power used again?

He had forgotten far too many things.

Fortunately, a male using mental power was instinctual, as natural as breathing.

As Mu Si pondered, his psychic senses spread out automatically, unfurling like a spider’s web.

His eyes and mental senses simultaneously detected the returning soldier bug.

In his hand, the soldier bug held a freshly killed, bleeding beast.

Casting him a glance, the female stepped to the side, setting about dressing the game on his own.

His cool, detached demeanor did not look like the sort to share prey with anyone.

Yet bringing the catch back was already an attitude in itself.

Mu Si walked over and was not driven away.

Squatting beside the soldier bug, he watched him skillfully pluck the beast, disembowel the carcass, clean the organs, and roast the meat over a fire.

As the aroma drifted out, Mu Si swallowed his saliva.

He vaguely remembered having eaten countless delicacies, tasting all kinds of gourmet feasts.

Craving it so intensely right now wasn’t necessarily because of how starving he was, or how delicious the meat looked, but because the atmosphere felt so much like the warm intimacy buried deep in his memories.

Even if the specific images were shrouded in fog and beyond recall, his body and heart remembered that feeling.

The soldier bug handed the roasted meat to him.

Mu Si wasn’t shy either, taking big bites.

It tasted savory upon entry, yet the flavor profile wasn’t rich, rather somewhat bland.

If marinated with sweet-and-sour wild fruits, it might be better, adding a bit of natural fruit fragrance and sweetness.

Thinking this, Mu Si voiced it aloud.

The soldier bug did not reply; perhaps finding him delicate and hard to please, his brows knit slightly.

Mu Si wasn’t actually that difficult to keep; on the contrary, his adaptability was quite strong.

When conditions were scarce, he could gratefully finish bland, unseasoned roasted meat to the last bite.

Perhaps also because X made it.

Toward X, he always held countless rose-tinted filters, accepting everything about him with high tolerance.

The prey was substantial, enough for two bugs.

X waited until he finished before dealing with all the leftovers.

Mu Si could only use the word “dealt with”—he ate even the bones clean, and buried all traces of blood and fur.

Seeing him not even spare the bones, Mu Si initially thought food was scarce.

Yet seeing him lean against a tree to rest with full satisfaction after devouring that massive beast, he realized it was likely his ingrained habit.

Such a habit typically formed only when food was scarce or food sources were unstable.

Mu Si grew somewhat drowsy, so he leaned over as well, resting his head on his shoulder.

X froze instantly, eyes widening, his emerald eyes—pupils almost narrowing into vertical slits—staring fixedly at him.

Mu Si naturally wrapped an arm around his waist, looking up with innocent eyes to meet his gaze.

“You shouldn’t be like this,” the black-haired soldier bug insisted.

At least he didn’t dart several meters away like before.

Perhaps he was too full and comfortable after eating.

“Why?” Mu Si still didn’t understand his resistance.

“You are a male,” the black-haired soldier bug repeated. “You should seek an Insect Queen. Whether it’s an Insect Queen with a vast kingdom or a newly independent queen, only an Insect Queen can reproduce!”

Mu Si understood every word, yet it lacked any sense of reality.

Like reading a history book or listening to an ancient folklore tale.

But the body of the female in his arms was undeniably real.

Mu Si buried his face into his chest, nuzzling gently.

X’s frame grew even stiffer, the heartbeat beneath his ribs pounding like thunder.

Suddenly, he shoved him away firmly, sitting up straight as insectoid claws manifested before Mu Si’s eyes.

“Can’t you tell? I am a soldier bug!” X emphasized once more, his voice heavy as if grinding his teeth to dust.

The black carapace of the sharp claws was cold as mecha plating, imbued with raw wildness and natural beauty, resembling a masterwork of apex violent art.

Mu Si praised sincerely: “So handsome!”

The claw tips capable of tearing anything asunder trembled faintly.

X pressed his lips together, his look questioning whether there was something wrong with his brain.

The young male’s naivety and fearlessness were written openly across his face.

X had no choice but to speak even more bluntly:

“Soldier bugs possess no reproductive capability. Courting me is completely meaningless. I cannot lay eggs, I cannot build a kingdom with you, and I can give you nothing of what you desire.”

Deep within X’s eyes flashed a well of hidden pain.

If he were an Insect Queen, he would possess this beautiful male without hesitation.

He would lay countless eggs with him, establish their clan, build their kingdom, and bestow all the finest things upon him.

But he was a soldier bug.

Void of reproductive capacity, he could provide none of it.

This young male ought to seek an Insect Queen capable of mating and propagating offspring.

Forcing down the unfamiliar ache in his chest, X laid everything bare before the male.

“No… reproductive capability?”

Mu Si was genuinely stunned.

Primitive soldier bugs naturally held no reproductive ability, nor did they possess the qualification to mate and breed with males.

It was only as Insect Queens gradually went extinct that females tens of millions of years later evolved reproductive functions under natural selection.

Looking up at the towering trees blotting out the sky around them, Mu Si vaguely understood.

Unable to lay eggs… was indeed a slight pity.

He had always felt that he and X ought to share cubs.

He genuinely harbored anticipation for a cub with X—a child resembling both himself and X, a crystallization of their love.

But this minor regret of being unable to propagate offspring was trivial compared to X himself.

Mu Si quickly smiled with relief, saying to him:

“That doesn’t matter. If you can’t lay eggs, we just won’t lay them. A male and a female being together doesn’t require having cubs.”

In the Zerg ethos, egg-laying was undeniably paramount; the vast majority of Zergs formed families solely for reproduction and propagation.

But Mu Si was different; he believed mutual love was what mattered most.

Such a mindset was already considered unconventional in the Zerg Empire tens of thousands of years later, let alone in this era.

X had never expected to receive such an answer.

In his worldview, once he declared himself a sterile soldier bug, the male should have walked away.

He hadn’t missed the flicker of regret in the male’s eyes upon learning he couldn’t lay eggs.

Yet the male ultimately chose to stay.

Why?

Perhaps the answer to this question was just like the name “X.”

In truth, he was a nameless bug.

In those past days of solitary survival, he had never given himself a name.

Only bugs with a need for communication required names.

A solitary bug cast out from the swarm had no need for a name.

“X” was naturally not his name.

Yet because the male called him that time and again, he had selfishly stolen that name for himself.

Yes, this male must have had a female in the past—a female who could lay eggs and establish a clan with him, a complete female, an Insect Queen.

Perhaps there were cubs too.

That was why, upon learning he could not lay eggs, a look resembling both regret and nostalgic reminiscence flashed in his eyes.

He did not know what catastrophe had befell the male’s original clan to leave a male wandering alone in the wilderness.

It must have been an unspeakable slaughter of his entire colony.

A soldier bug’s sense of duty and protective instinct made it impossible for him to abandon a helpless male devoid of survival skills.

Soldier bugs bore the sacred duty of protecting their colony, remaining infinitely wary and hostile toward bugs outside their clan.

Yet he had never truly protected anyone.

By the time he broke from his egg, his colony was already annihilated, leaving nothing behind.

He had lost his clan.

Just like this male.

Perhaps he could protect this male.

Until the other was accepted by another colony, or found a newborn Insect Queen capable of founding a clan together.

Different colonies were typically locked in fierce competition, making the Zerg inherently xenophobic; an outside soldier bug would never be accepted into any clan.

But males were different.

Every colony welcomed outside males, for they enriched the gene pool within the clan.

Especially a male as breathtaking as this one—no colony would ever reject him.

As for himself…

X thought: once the male found a home, his duty would come to an end.

For a soldier bug who had lost his colony, living on in solitude held no meaning to begin with.