Signing for Delivery

Ning Bai was brought to Chu An's doorstep by people from the Fertility Promotion Association at dusk.

Calling it "brought" would be less accurate than calling it "escorted under guard."

Two armed female Zergs held Ning Bai by either arm and dragged him into the yard. Behind them followed one male and one female Zerg to oversee things—

Judging by their bearing, the male and female behind them should be two leaders from the Fertility Promotion Association.

The female Zerg seemed to hold the lower position. Holding a folder, he repeatedly checked the house number outside the yard before entering.

The male Zerg, on the other hand, looked like some high official. He carried himself as though no one else existed. Once the gate opened, he surveyed the sparse flowers and plants in the yard with a somewhat disdainful expression.

After getting the call, Chu An had hurriedly changed into the formal clothes he had just bought. The moment he stepped out of his room, the association staff had already arrived.

He lived in a house the state assigned free of charge to unmarried male Zergs: a detached little two-story home with a small yard.

He stood at the entrance, watching two female Zergs support Ning Bai from the yard gate all the way to him.

Ning Bai appeared exhausted. He had kept his head lowered the entire time, his fluffy bangs hiding his eyes so that Chu An could not see his expression.

He was still wearing his immaculate white military uniform, and the stars on his epaulets shone brilliantly. The noble general's stars and his pale gold hair gleamed together in the rose-colored dusk.

Chu An wanted to tell the two female Zergs to let Ning Bai go, but before he could speak, the two leaders behind Ning Bai exchanged a look. The female Zergs pressed Ning Bai's shoulders and forced him to kneel before Chu An.

Ning Bai did not resist. His knees struck the stone steps at Chu An's door with a heavy, muffled thud.

The lower-ranking female leader with the folder approached Chu An. He first froze, then bowed with a fawning smile.

"Are you Mr. Chu An? Hello. We apologize for coming unannounced and hope we have not disturbed your rest. We are staff from the Zerg Race Fertility Promotion Association. In accordance with the relevant regulations, we have delivered the female slave Ning Bai to your residence today. We ask for your cooperation with our work."

Bending at the waist, he extended one arm and respectfully introduced the male Zerg beside him. "This is Chairman Pan of our association. Chairman Pan takes your matching arrangements very seriously, so he has come personally today to supervise the procedure. There is no need to be nervous. We simply need to follow the process."

Chu An nodded. "I'll cooperate, but could you let him get up first?" He pointed at Ning Bai, who was kneeling on the ground.

"This..." The female Zerg secretly glanced at the male's expression, opened his folder, and took out a legal document. "I'm sorry, Mr. Chu An, but this is required by our procedure. Under Zerg Planet Decree No. 1587, when a male lord receives a compulsorily matched female slave, the female slave must remain kneeling throughout and may not—"

"All right, all right." Chu An waved a hand. "I'll cooperate. Don't waste time reciting statutes. What do you need me to do?"

The female Zerg breathed a sigh of relief. "You need not do much. Primarily, we must verify Ning Bai's identity in your presence, submit his personal records to you, and then—"

At that moment, Chairman Pan suddenly glanced at Chu An and said, "Today, we will use a special delivery-acceptance procedure. Verify the male lord's identity first."

The female Zerg: "...Yes, Chairman."

The female Zerg gave Chu An an awkward smile, took a small device Chu An had never seen from his pocket, and photographed him with it.

"Mr. Chu An, we are very sorry. Because your appearance differs greatly from the photographic records registered in Zerg Planet's resident information system, we must use a special procedure and verify your identity first. Please forgive us."

Chu An's heart sank, but he put on a casual air. "Ha, all right. How do you verify it?"

"A biometric comparison. We need to draw a small blood sample. It may hurt a little. If you feel any discomfort, please tell me immediately. The Fertility Promotion Association will be responsible for any health risk arising during the biometric comparison."

The female Zerg went down on one knee, clamped Chu An's finger in the device, and switched it on.

Chu An's brow furrowed faintly, and the female Zerg grew anxious.

In truth, Chu An was only worried that his identity verification would fail.

He had transmigrated into this world. He was not the real male Zerg Chu An. He did not know where that male Zerg had gone, just as he did not understand why he himself had transmigrated here.

He shared the male Zerg's name and birthday, and inexplicably knew that male Zerg's ID number and all his personal details. But their appearances, personalities, habits, interests, and life histories really were completely different.

Fortunately, male Zerg Chu An had not had much of a social life, so Chu An had passed himself off without being exposed throughout his time in the Zerg society. But facing government staff with professional equipment today, he was not entirely confident.

For more than a minute, both Chu An and the female Zerg examining him held their breath.

Fortunately, the result showed nothing unusual.

The female Zerg wiped his sweat and relaxed. "The biometric comparison is a match. Thank you for cooperating. We added this procedure today only because you are much more handsome than the photo in the database. You do not look like a D-grade male Zerg at all. Actually, you could find time to have your mental grade tested again... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't mean to discriminate based on grade. Please don't misunderstand. I only meant, well, you know, ordinary D-grade male and female Zergs, in every respect..."

The female Zerg had let something slip. Chairman Pan looked displeased and cleared his throat twice. The female Zerg hurriedly put away the device and moved on.

Next came verifying Ning Bai's identity.

Unlike the simple biometric comparison used to verify a male Zerg's identity, establishing a female slave's identity before his male lord required meticulous testing.

The Fertility Promotion Association staff told Ning Bai to remove his clothes. They needed to take blood samples from five places on his body.

Without a word, Ning Bai removed his military uniform piece by piece, folded it neatly, and set it beside him. At last, his pale skin was completely exposed.

Then Chu An saw the bracelet everyone had been talking about: a thick silver metal band around Ning Bai's left wrist, with a red indicator light flashing rapidly on it.

The metal band was tight, leaving almost no gap around his wrist.

Even in the dim twilight, Chu An could clearly see the blackened burns on Ning Bai's wrist beneath it.

"That is a mental-fluctuation suppression bracelet." Seeing Chu An staring at it, the association's female Zerg hastened to explain. "It is the latest result of adapting Zerg Planet military technology for civilian use. The bracelet contains a high-density energy cell and a mental monitoring sensor. Once the mental fluctuations of the female Zerg wearing it exceed the threshold, the bracelet releases an electric arc, forcibly calming the female Zerg's nervous system through electric shock. It prevents female Zergs whose mental collapse has gone out of control from harming their male lord or society. It can even kill a female Zerg outright."

The sun slowly sank beyond the end of the street. The twilight faded, and the air gradually turned cold.

Chu An crouched down and picked up the clothes Ning Bai had folded on the ground.

Cradling the military uniform in both hands, he asked softly, "May I hold your clothes for you, Major General?"

That gentle voice brushed over Ning Bai's cheek. His body suddenly shuddered, and the bracelet's indicator light flashed violently, making crackling electrical sounds.

"You..."

At last, he raised his head, and a pair of startled eyes entered Chu An's view. He wanted to say something, but after one word, he bit down painfully on his chapped lip and forced himself to endure the pain of the burning electric arcs without letting out even a moan.

"His condition is indeed very poor." Chairman Pan took the verification report handed over by his subordinate and casually flung it into Chu An's arms, atop Ning Bai's military uniform. "Sign your name at the bottom."

"And these. You must sign his identity documents as well."

Chairman Pan flung over several more sheets. Chu An skimmed them. They listed Ning Bai's career history, current posts, various income figures, and detailed statements for all his asset accounts.

Ning Bai was currently a major general in the Second Army Group. In addition, he held eleven posts, including guest researcher at the Military Technology Research Institute, off-campus instructor at the Royal Military Academy, executive director of the Combat Sports Association, and special-class mech test pilot. The allowances and subsidies for each position were recorded in plain detail, like the transparent salary slips Chu An had received as a civil servant.

Chairman Pan patted Chu An's shoulder, his tone deeply earnest.

"You should know that all his money was awarded to his former husband. But his salary is high, so you needn't worry about your future livelihood. Moving into a larger house will not be a problem either. Ordinarily, once you take a female slave, the government will quickly reclaim this place. Of course, Ning Bai's situation is special. The military has already coordinated things, so you won't have to move out for now."

The chairman leaned close to Chu An's ear. "Good luck. Don't play too rough. If he dies, the military will be difficult to deal with. You're only a D-grade male Zerg, after all. Understand?"

Chu An glanced at Chairman Pan. "That bracelet... can it be removed?"

Chairman Pan immediately looked at him as though he were an idiot, then pointed at the things in his hands.

"The documents. Have you signed them? Hurry up!"

At that point, the subordinate female Zerg handed Chu An a small bag.

"These are Ning Bai's personal effects. Please accept them."

Chu An asked, "What are they?"

"His military service medals. That is all. He has no other property," the female Zerg answered. "These things all belong to you from now on."

Night fell, and warm yellow lights came on in Chu An's yard.

The instant the lights came on, two unfamiliar female-soldier figures flashed past outside the yard and vanished into the shadows beyond the light.

Chu An saw the two female soldiers, but he had no time to attend to them because the final step in receiving the female slave was about to begin.

The Fertility Promotion Association staff were going to brand a female-slave identification number onto Ning Bai. They told Chu An that the number made it easier for male Zergs to gift and trade female slaves among themselves.

Chu An clutched Ning Bai's military uniform tightly to his chest, watching everything before him in alarm.

The female Zergs took out a thick particle-impact baton. The three of them braced it against the hollow of Ning Bai's lower back. With a bang, the baton's tip discharged a powerful particle wave.

In an instant, Ning Bai's entire body tensed. The bracelet on his left hand flashed with electricity, and the smell of scorched skin even rose from it.

A moment later, two pale-gold wings came trembling softly down from either side of Ning Bai's strong back.

They were female Zergs' wings. Using the powerful particle wave, they had forced Ning Bai to extend them. Then they raised his right wing and used a laser to brand the female-slave identification number onto the soft flesh where wing and body joined.

The laser's red beam looked all the crueler in the night.

Chairman Pan seemed especially pleased by the sight. His previously careless expression finally showed excitement, and he took the initiative to explain to Chu An. "That is the place on a Zerg's body with the densest nerves and the greatest sensitivity. Female Zergs heal very quickly. If we branded the number elsewhere, they would find a way to remove it. But it is not easy to remove it from there. Ha, because it hurts too much."

Then he called out to his subordinates, "Put some force into it. Make it deep. Ning Bai is a very powerful female soldier; we must make absolutely sure."

The smell of burning in the air grew stronger and stronger, and Ning Bai's body would not stop shaking.

The bracelet around his left wrist kept discharging electricity. Its indicator light even began to hum.

When it was finally over, the association staff released him. Drained of strength, he collapsed to the ground, sweat soaking the soft hair over his forehead.

"All right, Mr. Chu An. Our work is finished." The lower-ranking female leader smiled as he had Chu An sign the final document. "Thank you for your cooperation. We wish you a pleasant evening."

Chu An ignored him and rushed straight to Ning Bai's side. "How are you? Are you all right? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Ning Bai gritted his teeth and struggled upright. He gave Chu An a flattering, seductive smile, then knelt on the ground and bent his body to its limit:

"Male lord, thank you for taking me in. From this day forward, everything I am belongs to you. I am willing to give my life for you."