Matching Intentions

For insulting a high-grade male Zerg in a post, Chu An was banned from the Starnet Forum for three days. Not only could he not reply to posts, he could not even browse them.

Compared with the female Zergs who were banned for thirty days or more for making similar remarks, Chu An's punishment as a male Zerg was already quite light.

But he was still extremely annoyed.

After all, his breakfast entertainment was gone.

Without entertainment, his mood would worsen. When his mood worsened, his writing would suffer. If he could not produce the required number of words, Chu An would receive a merciless pop-up from his editor demanding new chapters—

His editor, a young, unmarried female Zerg with a fiery temperament, had no idea that the breakout new author under her care was a male Zerg.

What male Zerg in the world could possibly sit still for the lonely profession of writing, which was so damaging to brain cells?

And maintain a daily output of ten thousand words? Impossible!

That was why Chu An often found tasteless chicken-soup messages in pop-ups from his editor: "Five chapters daily—don't be slow; tonight to bed with a male you'll go," or "Write more pages, earn more dough; take your pick of A-grade beaux." They left him laughing helplessly.

Still, sometimes Chu An found his editor rather cute.

For instance, when Chu An tactfully explained that he did not write for money, nor did he wish to mindlessly pad his word count at the expense of quality, his editor immediately expressed understanding and gave him a lovely blessing—

"Any Zerg who keeps looking at the stars will receive the stars' answer. May your future male lord be the brightest star in the universe, the one who understands you best."

Chu An smiled gently when he saw those words.

He replied to his editor, "Thank you. I also hope you find the star you love most."

All in all, Chu An got along fairly well with his editor.

So when he saw that the editor had changed their avatar to an image of the Golden Eagle Medal, Chu An guessed this female Zerg had probably seen Ning Bai's divorce case as well and was feeling low in shared sorrow.

So he deliberately poked his editor on their chat app. "Sigh. I got banned from the forum. I can't slack off anymore."

"What? You got banned too?" the editor replied at once. "Me too—I got banned for three months! I'm furious! Hey, wait. You had nothing better to do than slack off on the forum instead of writing, so you said something stupid and got banned, didn't you? Serves you right! Good thing you were banned! Go write already. So what if your forum access is banned? Make more money, and you'll reach the pinnacle of Zerg life!"

Chu An gave a wry smile. "All right, all right, I'll listen to you. I'm going to write now. One hundred thousand words in three days; your bonus this month is on me."

His nimble fingers flew across a traditional mechanical keyboard. Even in the Zerg society, he still preferred this old-fashioned way of writing. It seemed to let every character carry its creator's feelings and warmth.

Another line typed by Chu An appeared in the chat window.

"Don't be sad. It'll all get better. Major General Ning Bai is strong; we all have to be strong. Keep it up."

Then Chu An shut himself in his study and made good on his promise, updating one hundred and twenty thousand words in three days.

In the newest plot, a new villain named Bei En* swaggered onto the stage. After switching sides back and forth, he was thoroughly humiliated by the protagonist in the end and fled with his tail between his legs.

*T/N: The characters and tone for the character Bei En is different from the original's.

The chapter's comments section was flooded with cheers from female Zergs. No one openly said what it was alluding to, but every female Zerg understood.

Naturally, some male Zergs voiced their displeasure. "Isn't the author afraid of being sued? This mockery is so obvious, even the name is almost the same as the real person's. Ning Bai himself accepted the judgment. Why are you people crying injustice for him?"

Chu An personally replied to that comment: "Dear reader, the site strictly prohibits identifying a character's real-life inspiration without evidence. Please provide more substantial proof, or I will request that your comment be deleted. The character I created is a chemist. His name, Bei En, is a chemical pun in Chinese, and the plot is driven by chemical experiments. Is this so-called real-life inspiration you mention also a chemist? Or a physicist or mathematician? If he does not even qualify as an ordinary intellectual, if he cannot even support himself, then I think you should stop saying my character was based on him. I do not like writing villains of such a low caliber; it is insulting to the reader's intelligence. Thank you for your comment."

Soon afterward, Chu An received a message from the site administrator.

He thought he had been banned again for his sharp tongue and was just about to swear, when he saw the message's opening word: "Congratulations!"

Thanks to his update of one hundred and twenty thousand words in three days, Chu An's new book had leaped to the top of the bestseller list.

His editor sent an excited thank-you. "My bonus is secured! Thank you, great Second-Level Clerk! Tonight's starlight belongs to you alone; tonight's male Zergs shall all enter your dreams!"

"...There's no need to get quite so excited. It's not the first time." Chu An rubbed his aching wrist. "My Starnet Forum ban has been lifted. I'm going to slack off and browse posts. Bye, Editor."

The editor blinked. "...What? You were only banned for three days?"

Three days later, discussion of Major General Ning Bai's divorce was still burning across the Starnet Forum.

The first post on the General Discussion board was "Is Second-Level Clerk's New Book a Suspected Allusion to Ning Bai's Divorce Case?"

Chu An clicked in and browsed it. He ignored the males and females tearing into each other, instead giving a like to every flattering reply praising his quick wit.

The board's second post was "Military Spokesperson Mentions Major General Ning Bai."

Apparently, at yesterday's regular military press conference, a reporter asked about Ning Bai's divorce. The military spokesperson calmly read a statement that had clearly been prepared in advance—

"The military has always upheld the laws of the nation. So long as no laws or military discipline are violated, we also respect every servicemember's personal choices. Legal proceedings are ongoing in the divorce case involving Major General Ning Bai. We ask members of the media to follow the relevant announcements from the judicial authorities; the military is not in a position to offer further comment."

"Of course, because Major General Ning Bai behaved irrationally toward the male Zerg after the trial concluded, we have examined his physical and mental condition. We are currently arranging leave for Major General Ning Bai to recuperate. Thank you for your concern."

The spokesperson's wording was polite, but to Chu An, a former civil servant, it was not actually very euphemistic.

The meaning was obvious: something was wrong with Ning Bai's physical or mental condition, and that was why he had been placed on medical leave.

Female soldiers were all exceptionally robust, so physical problems were unlikely. That made it almost certain that the problem was with his mental power.

Taken together with what Ning Bai had said in the trial video, could it be that his mental power had collapsed after he went so long without receiving mental soothing from a male Zerg?

New evidence soon confirmed Chu An's guess.

Someone in the thread posted the newest compulsory-matching list from the Fertility Promotion Association, and Ning Bai's name was conspicuously on it.

Within a week, he would be matched to a low-grade male Zerg of C-grade or lower.

Clearly, the reason the Fertility Promotion Association had put him on the list so quickly was that Ning Bai's mental power was about to collapse. If he was not assigned to a male Zerg soon, he would not survive.

"Male Zergs should all know that you can submit a matching intention on the Fertility Promotion Association's official site, right?" a male Zerg commented in the thread.

"Huh? Does anyone still want to take Ning Bai off someone else's hands? What a brave soul!"

"No, no. If it were a C-grade female Zerg with mental collapse, I could call the police to deal with him. But Ning Bai in mental collapse... even though he's only B-grade, I'm afraid he'd kill me before I could finish dialing the police."

"A female soldier is still a female soldier. No matter how pretty Ning Bai is, he's not as soft and charming as a subfemale. He's dangerous now, and he doesn't have a single star coin. What would I want him for? Those military service medals aren't worth much either. The most valuable one was already crushed underfoot."

"Die beneath the peonies, and be a romantic ghost. I've already signed up on the official site. Once Ning Bai gets to my home, I'll call over my three best brothers and we'll all have a good time, heh heh heh."

"Ning Bai's like this now; the military probably won't protect him anymore. Whichever brother gets lucky can try more tricks. Female soldiers have a high tolerance, you know. Anyway, if a female slave dies, he dies. We male Zergs will at most be called to the police station for a little lecture. I've been there. Totally fine. The female Zergs at the police station even flirt with you."

"Whichever brother gets matched with Ning Bai, remember to take pictures and videos for everyone's benefit. Or hold a 'male Zerg social gathering.' Ning Bai has no money now; it's only fair to make some money off him."

...

...

Chu An did not finish reading the later posts. The replies from anonymous male Zergs grew more and more explicit, making him sick.

He closed the forum and opened the Fertility Promotion Association's official site. The newest compulsory-matching list of female Zergs was long. Ning Bai's name had been tucked into an inconspicuous place near the middle, but the photo paired with it was striking.

Perhaps no other female Zerg had hair like Ning Bai's: pale gold, soft, fluffy, gleaming. It reminded Chu An of a stray dog with light yellow fur that his parents had once brought home while they were still alive.

Later, his parents died one after the other, and that stray dog disappeared too. After graduating from college, Chu An passed the civil-service exam for a position in another city. Busy with work, he had wanted to raise a dog in the little home where he lived alone, but never had...

The sky was darkening. Chu An's mood inexplicably sank, and even the notification that his royalties had arrived did not cheer him.

He looked at Ning Bai's ID photo several more times. He did not submit a matching intention and simply closed the Fertility Promotion Association's site.

...

Another day passed, and gossip about Ning Bai's divorce case was still raging.

Some said they had seen Ning Bai escorted to a medical facility, where a bracelet that suppressed mental fluctuations had been forcibly fitted on him.

The posts made the bracelet sound miraculous, calling it modern technology's greatest invention. They said it could effectively protect male Zergs' lives, break female Zergs' will and fighting power, and silently eliminate female Zergs in complete mental collapse in an instant.

Others said the military had secretly organized an enormous fundraiser internally. Many female soldiers had donated the savings they had kept hidden away, hoping to help Major General Ning Bai remake a Golden Eagle Medal.

Others said the military would never abandon Ning Bai. The reason he had entered the compulsory-matching list so quickly was that the military had intervened to negotiate.

The military wanted to swiftly find a male Zerg to give Ning Bai stable mental soothing, because the front lines had been far from peaceful lately and they needed Major General Ning Bai to lead troops into battle.

"What effective mental soothing can C-grade and lower males provide? Medication would be better."

"Careful up there. Don't talk nonsense."

"Female Zergs, stop dreaming. If medication really worked, Ning Bai wouldn't be in this state."

Another day passed.

The two hottest posts in the Starnet Forum's General Discussion section were:

"Rumor: Ning Bai Has Been Compulsorily Matched to a D-grade Male. D-GRADE!"

"Second-Level Clerk Takes Three-Day Hiatus; Reason: Preparing for Marriage!"

At that very moment, Chu An was holding his communicator and listening to his editor's roar, pleading desperately.

"Editor, please listen to my explanation. I'm not lying to you. I really was compulsorily matched. Compulsorily matched! I don't know what happened. I never signed up. I refused, but it was no use."

"Yes, yes, thank you. The prime interstellar all-channel promotional placement—you fought for the best promotion for me. I can earn a million star coins a day in royalties, but I really don't have time to post two hundred thousand words in five days. You know I don't have any chapters saved up..."

"I'm sorry, but you're wrong. Compulsory matching is still marriage, and marriage means forming a family. Family matters."

"I did refuse, but since I can't refuse, I think I should have at least a little sense of responsibility and mission."

"Do you remember what you once told me? He is a very bright star. A very bright, golden star."

Author's Note:

Chu An: Sense of responsibility and mission ← As expected of a civil servant.