Hatchling

A male hatchling had been discovered in the main city district of Planet G022.

In this day and age, male insects were the treasures of the entire interstellar world. Every newly born hatchling was collected by the Gem Association (also known as the "Male Insect Association") and taken to Firenze, the planet set aside exclusively for male insects. There stood a male-insect community called "Bird of Paradise," a playground where male insects could do whatever they pleased and a holy land that female insects could gaze upon but never reach.

A stray male hatchling on his own was an almost unheard-of shock, something no one had seen in hundreds of years.

"Oh my god! Thank goodness there are pheromone detectors all over the main city district, or a male hatchling this small would've been snatched up by those desperate female insects for sure!"

"How could there be a male hatchling all by himself? Look how thin and small he is, his clothes are in tatters, and he's even got wounds! Has somebody been abusing him? The poor thing!"

"Why would a male hatchling show up here? As far as I know, no female insect in the main city district has married a male insect in ages!"

"On a remote planet like ours, getting to see a male insect even once in your life is lucky enough. Better take a good look while we can!"

"A new male hatchling—doesn't that mean I might have a chance once he's grown up? I'd happily be a male insect's female slave if I could..."

"Dream on. Male insects have never liked the brawny build of female insects. If you were a sub-female, maybe you'd have a shot! Besides, right now he's just an underage male insect. Get a grip on that drool before it runs down your chin!"

"..."

The female insects and sub-females who had gathered because of the alarm talked among themselves in hushed tones. They kept their voices low, as if afraid their curiosity might frighten the little male insect standing beside the garbage station.

Gu Ting was bewildered.

He looked around. Two or three meters away, a crowd had packed in around him so tightly that not even water could have trickled through—beings with human bodies, noisily discussing something. But their glowing vertical pupils, along with the patterns and features showing on the surface of their skin, all told Gu Ting that they were not human.

Even though they kept their voices down as much as they could, Gu Ting still caught a few words—

"Male insect," "hatchling," "female insect"...

Gu Ting felt he shouldn't have known what they meant. And yet, as he weighed the words against the beings standing around him, he found he could clearly tell which group each of them belonged to. There was no doubt about it: they were a crowd of sturdy female insects and slender sub-females.

They were insects.

Gu Ting's brain felt as if it had been struck with a hammer. Waves of dizziness rose and fell one after another, and even his temples throbbed dully. He looked down and saw his own bare feet, small and white, the slightly chubby toes smeared with grime. Starting from the tops of his feet, fine cracks of blood split his skin.

His hands, which had shrunk a great deal, bore the same marks. The blood-crack marks began at his fingertips and spread densely up his arms until they disappeared beneath his torn clothes.

In that moment, he was like a cracked porcelain doll that might fall apart completely at the slightest bit of force.

—Who am I?

I'm Gu Ting.

—Where am I?

I'm on a planet full of "insects."

Gu Ting tried to recall more about himself. He wanted to know what he had been doing the second before he appeared here, or why his body was covered in so many wounds...

But whenever he tried to remember, it was as if a white veil hung over his mind, hazy and ethereal, shrouding everything he wanted to know so thoroughly that nothing showed through.

On some instinctive level, Gu Ting knew that he was human—or at least that he had once been human.

And naturally, he probably didn't belong here either.

A luxurious aircraft adorned with brightly colored energy stones slowly descended. Its metallic doors opened, and at the head of the group stood an arrogant young male insect in a royal-blue formal suit. Behind him was a lovely sub-female beauty with long, loose hair. This sub-female's gray-blue eyes were strikingly beautiful—perhaps that was one of the reasons he had caught the young male insect's attention.

A moment later, a black aircraft landed as well. This time, the ones who stepped out were several female insects in blue-and-white uniforms carrying briefcases.

The young male insect held his head high. With a look of distaste, he trod across the fallen leaves on the ground and, amid their crunching, walked up and planted himself in front of Gu Ting.

Klein Wardens was the insect in charge at the Gem Association. As the association's vice-president, he had always hated male insects who were better-looking than him or had stronger psionic power. His decision to leave Firenze and come here to see what was going on this time was simply to find out whether this male hatchling might become a potential rival.

He took the scanner a female insect handed him and waved it briefly over the little male insect's head.

The gray display suddenly lit up, and two lines of data immediately appeared.

Constitution: C-D

Psionic Power: D-F

Clearly, he wasn't a rival.

The male hatchling in front of him was pale and scrawny, almost bony enough to invite bullying. Aside from a face that was reasonably cute beneath the grime, his psionic power and constitution were pitifully poor. The pheromones he gave off in his fear smelled like rain-washed grass and were faint to the extreme. If the pheromone detectors here hadn't gone without a taste of male-insect scent for several hundred years, they probably never would have noticed there was a little male insect here at all.

Although the scanner could only give a range of possibilities, those two dismal lines of data were enough to make Klein's expression soften.

The young male insect glanced at the hatchling's dirty cheeks, his gaze sweeping carelessly over the blood-crack marks on the child's neck, arms, and even his thighs and calves. They looked somewhat frightening, but to Klein they were nothing new. The female insects he had taken as female slaves and then punished always ended up looking like this—or even more wretched than this hatchling.

He impatiently withdrew his gaze. Rather than waste time here, he would be better off going back to dote on the sub-female he had just taken in.

"Take him back. You should know what to do."

Klein waved a hand, turned, and boarded the luxurious aircraft with his sub-female, leaving the scene without further ado. As for the several female insects left behind, they were used to this.

One of the older female insects slowly crouched down in front of the male hatchling, choosing his words carefully and with great respect. "Your Excellency, honored male insect, do you remember how you came to be here?"

At such close range, he could smell the faint pheromones on the little male insect, like grass after rain, crisp and slightly cool.

Gu Ting paused. Only belatedly had he realized that he had never heard the language these "insects" spoke, and yet, surprisingly, he could understand it.

He looked at the female insect crouching before him. Compared with the male insect from a moment ago, the female insect was clearly taller and more powerfully built, taut muscle beneath the blue-and-white uniform. His skin was on the darker side, somewhere between wheat and bronze. The contours of his face held not the slightest softness, and his brows and eyes were full of sharp severity.

He had a pair of tawny-brown slit pupils, and he was trying to show that he was friendly and harmless.

The female insect pointed to the emblem on his chest—an exquisite gem design. "I'm a staff member of the Gem Association. I won't hurt you, so may I wipe your face for you, or carry you onto the aircraft?"

Gu Ting didn't speak.

He wanted to open his mouth, but it was slow and stiff, like an old, rusted gear. Only his eyes, as blue as a mirage of the sky, could move freely from place to place.

The female insect wasn't discouraged. He took a damp towel out of his briefcase and, little by little, wiped the grime from the hatchling's face.

He went on, "Don't be afraid. We'll be taking you to Firenze very soon. It's a paradise for male insects. I'm sure Your Excellency will like it, too."

The towel wiped across the dense blood-crack marks on the male hatchling's neck. The female insect had assumed they were marks that could be wiped away, but when the towel moved on, leaving behind a damp patch, those frightening wounds were still there.

—Like cracked porcelain.

"Does it hurt..."

At the sight of the wounds, the surrounding female insects fell somewhat silent, and even the atmosphere grew oppressive for a moment.

On Firenze—no, it would be more accurate to say throughout the entire star domain of the Empire—male insects were treasures bestowed by heaven. Even with their lives held hostage, no insect would ever harm a fragile, noble male insect.

Gu Ting couldn't feel any pain. Or rather, from the moment he had regained consciousness until now, his sense of pain had been nearly numb.

The female insect was half-kneeling on the ground. Propping up one leg, he slowly drew the frail little male insect onto his knee.

A male hatchling who should have been pampered on Firenze was living like a little beggar. Even after being wiped clean, his once porcelain-white skin still bore the marks of harm.

The female insect wrapped the hatchling in a blanket his colleague handed him, and only then, amid the noisy clamor of the onlookers, did he board the aircraft. They needed to bring this little male insect back to the Gem Association's center for an examination.

The black aircraft was understated and full of the cold, hard style female insects liked. The space inside wasn't large; after all, the Gem Association, which had only ever given preferential treatment to male insects, would never provide benefits for its female insect employees. Even the star coins they took home each month were pitifully few. Even so, tens of thousands of female insects still wanted to apply for jobs at the association. After all, no one could say for sure that they wouldn't catch the eye of some noble male insect and from then on become a secondary mate or female slave with a male lord.

As for the rightful principal mate, that was a position only decorated military females had a chance to compete for.

The several female insects on the aircraft gazed longingly at the little male insect cradled in their colleague's arms. He was so young and fragile, his pointed little chin tucked into the fleece blanket. His large, vacant blue eyes were so beautiful, like a lake set among the mountains and wilds. His trembling lashes seemed to reveal their owner's timidity and helplessness, and even the strands of his tousled hair seemed, in the female insects' eyes, to sparkle with an adorable glow.

The female insects were filled with tender pity.

Although the circumstances of this little male insect, who looked to be under five years old, were suspicious, it was fortunate that he'd been found. No matter what level his constitution and psionic power turned out to be, as long as he could live on Firenze, he would receive excellent treatment—warm rooms, gorgeous clothes, entertaining banquets, and wealth he'd never have to worry about. These were privileges that belonged to male insects alone.

The female insect's embrace was very warm, just like a mother's.

Gu Ting rested his chin on the other's shoulder and watched the planet recede farther and farther outside the aircraft. Advanced technology made it possible to jump through space, and in an instant they went from streets crowded with buildings to a jump lane filled with stars and nebulae. All around them was a boundless expanse of deep blue. Planets seemed close enough to touch. All of it felt like living in a dream.

This was a strange world. Humans had been replaced by the insect race. Male insects were held supreme, and the pairing norm of one male, many females was revered. Virtually every male was born for the purpose of producing offspring, while every female regarded marrying a male as his duty.

Deep in the bones of female insects, there seemed to lurk a kind of servility—they were born to submit to the control of male insects.

The insects' society was twisted and sick, and what had brought it all about was the enormous disparity in the ratio of females to males—9:1. In other words, among every ten members of the insect race, there might be only one male. Such a gap in numbers had led society to indulge male insects and oppress female insects, but it seemed the vast majority of insects had long since grown used to it.

Male insects were noble, arrogant, and spoiled. Like dodder vines, they lived off the wealth of the female insects registered under their names. Treating female insects with cold disdain while doting on sub-females seemed to be their habit. Among the female insects, the military females stood at the top. They risked their lives on the front lines of war, all to earn merit and star coins for the chance to date a male insect or even marry one. It was just that the military females' tall builds and innate air of menace made it very hard for them to win the affection of males.

As for the sub-females, their builds were similar to those of male insects, and they had lovely faces. Their status was low, yet because of their personalities and looks, they were very much in favor with the male insects—after all, few male insects would like a "wife" stronger and taller than themselves.

All in all, as far as Gu Ting could see, this world was deformed.

It was unhealthy.