Chapter 5

Three hours later, Que Rong appeared outside Xie Yanxing's temporary residence with his meager luggage.

The MIPA vice president had gone his separate way from them early that morning. After safely delivering them to the residence, the two Confidentiality Bureau females had boarded a spacecraft back to the Upper Planet.

In fact, Que Rong had packed all his belongings and carried them with him before today. His rent had expired and he had no money to renew it, so he had decided that if he was not chosen as Xie Yanxing's guard today, he would sleep beneath a bridge that night, dig wild vegetables, and boil street tap water to drink.

Fortunately, heaven did not cut off every path for an insect. Before he had to beg for food, he found somewhere to shelter.

But honestly, Xie Yanxing's home was the most impoverished male insect residence Que Rong had ever seen. Not that Xie Yanxing lived badly—a 150-square-meter apartment with three bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, two bathrooms, and a kitchen, a study, and a dedicated gym was vastly better than the underground parking garage where Que Rong had lived for over a year. But compared to other male insects, it was woefully inadequate.

Not to mention the Second Planet, renowned for extravagance and debauchery. Even on their Third Planet, male insects' homes started at detached houses. A three-story building aboveground and two below, with a courtyard, was the bare minimum; it also had to have a river or ocean view, or else a private insect swimming pool—otherwise they would get "depressed."

Male insects truly were an extraordinary species. Their leading cause of unnatural death was actually... mental illness. Once they encountered adversity and setbacks beyond their capacity to bear, they easily developed anxiety and panic, which could turn into neurasthenia, depression, anxiety disorders, and other psychological problems. Those problems rapidly depleted their male pheromone and significantly reduced sexual function; in the end, they could even worry themselves to death.

That was also the chief reason female insects, powerful as they were in every respect, could do nothing with comparatively weak male insects. Go against a male insect's wishes and his male pheromone dried up; get even a little rough and he might die on them. Forced enslavement was even less imaginable. The only way to treat male insects was to coax them, provide for them, and keep them. To obtain male pheromone, they could only rely on a male insect's willingness.

After all, male pheromone really was... incredibly addictive.

Female insects who had never received mating training and a mark did not have fixed heat cycles. Yet even so, when they smelled male pheromone, they felt comfortable and distracted, and could even lose control and fall into heat, craving mating training.

Marked female insects, meanwhile, went into heat at intervals of no more than one month. If they did not receive male pheromone from the male insect who had marked them within thirty days, they would madly crave mating training. Female insects with weak willpower could do nearly anything for it during this phase and might self-harm frantically. This period lasted almost two to three years, until the effect of the mark finally disappeared and they escaped that state of burning thirst.

To be sure, insect-made tranquilizers with quite mature technology had now been invented, and they could effectively soothe the pain brought on by heat. But that was only for single female insects. For marked female insects, tranquilizers could ease only fifty percent of the pain. The remaining agitation and hunger still filled their minds with male insects and kept them awake all night.

Thus, to protect female insects' rights, the insectfolk wrote "a male master has the obligation to provide any female insect he has marked with mating training at least once every thirty days" into the constitution. Incidentally, that was probably one of the insectfolk's only laws that benefited female insects.

And male pheromone did not merely satisfy physiological needs. It could effectively improve female insects' physical abilities, combat power, and willpower. That was why most high-ranking female insects had a male master behind them who supplied male pheromone regularly and frequently.

So... the female insects could hardly be blamed for revering male insects with almost no bottom line. Who could refuse a rare, highly nourishing, pleasing-to-the-eye snow lotus from the mountains?

......

The moment they entered, Que Rong displayed the exceptional professional competence of a former military female. He rolled up his sleeves and dismantled more than a dozen cameras in rapid succession. The most were in the bedroom, then the bathroom. Finally, he discovered a completely invisible high-tech device stuck atop the toilet seat. Xie Yanxing had no idea how Que Rong had noticed it; even if he gouged out his own eyes, he would never have spotted it. The female insect who installed that camera must have spent a fortune.

"Wouldn't it go dark as soon as someone sat down? What could it see?" Xie Yanxing asked, baffled.

Que Rong said helplessly, "Given your current situation, you should not be living in a regular neighborhood with security this poor. The guards are elderly female insects. You should live in a male-insect residential district with a more complete security system."

"You think I don't want to?" Xie Yanxing was helpless, too. "But I don't qualify, and I don't have the money... MIPA is full of bastards with no human feeling."

"Human feeling?" Que Rong asked in confusion.

Xie Yanxing ignored him and simply crushed the dismantled cameras underfoot before tossing them into the trash.

Que Rong had more questions, but then a shadow suddenly passed beneath the gap in the front door. Next, a crumpled envelope was shoved inside. One look told Xie Yanxing what it was. The first time he received one, he had innocently picked it up and opened it out of curiosity. Then he spent a full ten minutes washing his hands. The female insect sending the harassing letters was exceptionally persistent. Since Xie Yanxing arrived on the Third Planet half a month ago, one letter smeared with semen had arrived every day without fail. It did not matter where Xie Yanxing moved; the letters found him, thoroughly irritating him.

Que Rong stepped forward, picked up the envelope, and sniffed it. Then, as though he had suffered the ultimate insult, he bolted out the door like the wind without looking back. Less than five minutes later, he returned dragging the female insect, who was bruised, swollen, and black-eyed, and threw him onto the floor.

In the meantime, Xie Yanxing had drawn the curtains, turned on the air conditioner, and changed into a casual robe. Holding a cup of hot water with amusement, he watched Que Rong plant a foot on the harasser's back and order him to apologize to Xie Yanxing and swear never to do it again. If there were a next time... Que Rong narrowed his eyes. He had intended to say he would turn the insect over to the police for five to ten days of detention, but then Xie Yanxing egged him on from beside him: "Pour cement into his ass."

Que Rong: "..."

The harassing female insect: "..."

Were beautiful male insects really all more vicious at heart?

"Young male master~" The harasser struggled to raise his head for a look at Xie Yanxing's face, only for Que Rong to kick him back down. After the kick, the female made a rough inhaling sound. At first Que Rong thought it was a gasp of pain, but after hearing it twice, he realized something was wrong: the female insect was greedily breathing in the faint male pheromone lingering in Xie Yanxing's room.

Then... the female insect stuck out his tongue and blissfully licked the floor Xie Yanxing might have stepped on.

Que Rong beat him up again, then immediately put the harassing letter into a garbage bag and escorted the female insect to the police station with Xie Yanxing.

Que Rong had not actually needed to bring the female insect back. Beating him up outside and threatening him a little would have been enough, and perhaps would have prevented that eye-searing floor-licking incident. But Xie Yanxing understood it, too. As a newly hired guard, Que Rong surely wanted to show off his strength before him.

The police station was very close to Xie Yanxing's home, and the evidence was conclusive. Ten minutes later, the matter was settled. Xie Yanxing had chosen this address because it was near the police station, but who could have expected that three days earlier, he would be kidnapped right outside it?

Perhaps that was also because the insectfolk's police forces were generally weak. Police duties were much narrower than on Earth; much of what should have been their work was handled by the Military Command instead.

After closing the front door, Xie Yanxing went straight to the kitchen. He opened a cabinet and took out a five-pack of instant noodles. "I forgot to make a detour to the supermarket. It's dark now, and I can't be bothered to go out again..." Then he opened the refrigerator and found a package of sausages, a carton of eggs, and several vegetables. Turning around, he asked the door god standing in the kitchen entrance, "By the way, can you cook?"

Que Rong looked at him with pursed lips. After a second's pause, he answered firmly, "No."

"Is that so? Neither can I." Xie Yanxing smiled. "MIPA said they were going to assign me a household assistant... but they haven't arrived yet. So I guess we'll have instant noodles tonight."

Que Rong looked at him darkly, unable to tell whether Xie Yanxing truly believed his implausible lie or simply did not wish to expose it. Cooking was a required course for every female insect. To win a male insect's heart, they even received systematic instruction in flower arranging and knitting. Que Rong's cooking grades had always been excellent at school, yet he had never cooked for anyone—some insects because he had not had time, others because he disdained to do so.

As for the one before him, perhaps it was simply a meaningless insistence... He wanted to save the first time he cooked for the only insect truly worthy of it.

"No need. I can take care of my own dinner," Que Rong said solemnly. Only after speaking did he recall that every bit of pay from this job had been frozen after he was stripped of military status. The funds given by relatives and friends had also run out several days ago, and he refused to trouble them again...

"Are you sure?" Xie Yanxing did not press him. After opening one package for himself, he started putting the rest back into the cabinet. Que Rong lowered his gaze awkwardly. Hunger made his stomach protest nonstop; he had not eaten for two days, which was why he had been injured during today's combat assessment. Que Rong was not an insect who would die for pride. Gritting his teeth, he said, "I'll... borrow it from you."

Xie Yanxing could not help smiling. His outstretched hand came back. "After hiring you as a guard, the Military Command allocated funds to cover your room and board. Also, General Randall just gave me an additional sum. He said he was deeply distressed to hear that I had been kidnapped and frightened recently while he was far away on the Upper Planet, so he sent a large amount as a token of his concern. All right, eat without worry. How many packs do you want?"

Que Rong silently looked at the four packs of instant noodles in front of him, paused for a few seconds, and asked, "Do you have any more?"

Xie Yanxing: "..."

In the end, all five packs went into Que Rong's stomach, along with three poached eggs and two sausages. Xie Yanxing opened another package in a new flavor for himself, but while he was still slowly chewing vegetables, Que Rong had already slurped down every noodle, then drained every last drop of the soup.

Xie Yanxing instinctively wanted to say, Eat more slowly; it's better for you. But he looked at Que Rong's forearm, which could club three Xie Yanxings to death, then at his own thoroughly frail, battered body. He silently lowered his head and sped up his chewing of the sausage.

Que Rong did the dishes after dinner. He had no particular principles about that. Once he was done, he wiped the table and stovetop clean, left the sink spotless, and then could not resist sweeping the dining room and kitchen floors. When he had finished all that, he saw Xie Yanxing dozing on the living-room sofa wrapped in a blanket. The half-cup of water on the table had long since gone cold. Resisting the urge to refill it with hot water, Que Rong carried his luggage into the room next to Xie Yanxing's.

At eight that night, sitting ramrod straight, he placed a video call to General Randall on the Upper Planet.