LIGHTNOVELONLINE 03
He Qin was cheerful and always smiling, which quickly broke the ice in the otherwise cold atmosphere of the high-ranking zerg soldiers’ dormitory. In less than a week, he had formed many good friendships within the zerg military camp.
“Leon, today I’m definitely going to beat you.” He Qin blocked the zerg soldier’s path, provocatively issuing a challenge.
Ever since Leon defeated him in front of all the soldiers, He Qin had been persistently challenging the tall zerg soldier multiple times.
“Alright, just don’t lose too badly and end up back in the infirmary!” Leon raised an eyebrow and looked at the human, moving his attention away from the food in his hand.
Since that day when He Qin showed a resilient and fearless fighting attitude during the combat training, Leon had changed his prejudiced view of humans.
In fact, high-ranking zergs were quite easy to get along with, as long as you weren’t a weak and scheming type. If you showed seriousness in combat and training, you could gain their respect.
He Qin described them as “a bunch of combat-obsessed weapons.”
“Yeah, I’ve recently figured out your high-ranking zergs’ weaknesses, don’t think you can beat me easily again!”
Standing about ten centimeters shorter than Leon’s nearly 1.9-meter height, He Qin disliked being towered over, whether by a person or an zerg. He stubbornly stood on his tiptoes, completely forgetting that this actually highlighted the height difference even more.
He Qin had a natural charm. After recovering, he shamelessly pulled them into private training sessions to share combat tips. He complained about the tasteless training meals and went to the kitchen to teach the zerg chefs to use more Earth seasonings, making the zergs, used to bland nutrition packs, gulp down water with burning tongues.
The once lifeless zerg camp became vibrant with He Qin’s presence.
At that moment, a silver-haired high-ranking zerg observed He Qin and Leon through a one-way glass. This was Rhys, the zerg general leading the mission to assist Earth.
Rhys was a female zerg, specifically a military female. In fact, all the high-ranking zergs in the camp were females.
Five hundred years ago, the Saran aliens attacked the high-ranking zergs’ planet. At that time, the male-to-female ratio was balanced, and both genders could choose to marry freely outside arranged family marriages.
There was a festival in the zerg world where all the males gathered to celebrate, receiving blessings from the king. The Saran aliens took advantage of this, attacking the imperial center when the females were at home, breaching the outer defenses and initiating a massacre.
Even though the females reacted quickly, they couldn’t immediately find their partners among the male crowd, resulting in almost complete annihilation of the males that night.
Over the years, with imperial protection, the number of males had gradually recovered but was still insufficient.
To protect the males, they generally only did safe, ordinary jobs. If they didn’t want to work, they could also be supported by the females at home.
In the military, which required risking lives, valuable males were absent. Thus, the entire camp assisting Earth consisted of military females, including their highest commander—General Rhys.
“Is this human the recommended vanguard?” Rhys took the documents from his adjutant, looking over the information provided by the Earth alliance about the human soldiers in the vanguard unit.
This battle was crucial for the zergs, with multiple orders from the empire urging Rhys to quickly eliminate their enemy—the leader of the Saran aliens.
He Qin, who joined the Earth International Alliance Army at fourteen, had often provided critical information to his squad, directly impacting battle outcomes.
He was recommended a week ago by the human army to join Lieutenant Hein’s elite vanguard unit of the empire, living, eating, and training alongside the high-ranking zergs.
He had a serious attitude during training and often sought out companions for private combat guidance. He was approachable, and even many of the proud military females spoke highly of him.
Humans really do like to smile. Why do they always greet others, whether human or zerg, with a smile?
Rhys gazed at the unrestrained smile on the human’s face in the distance, quietly pondering whether he should practice smiling privately. After all, many males in the empire preferred amiable, gentle sub-females who smiled often.
For military females like them, who had long faced life and death in the army, smiles had been eroded by the constant warfare.
Their overly tough personalities and unappealing emotional expressions were reasons many males disliked military females.
Thus, many males in the empire chose sub-females with soft personalities and good household skills as their mates. Military females were only selected as servants or slaves by a small number of males who wanted to try something different.
He Qin was currently grappling with a stack of soldier profiles. This morning, his immediate superior, Lieutenant Hein, had assigned him an extremely challenging task.
On the front lines, the battle with the Saran aliens had reached a critical stalemate.
Although the high-ranking zergs’ involvement finally balanced the war, human soldiers also gained more confidence on the battlefield.
A week of intense fighting had pushed the Alliance Army to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion.
The high-ranking zergs, being fewer in number, could not afford to prolong the conflict against the highly reproductive Saran aliens.
Thus, they offered a precious weapon from their home planet—a bomb containing rare energy.
This seemingly ordinary shell, resembling a common stone on Earth, held an explosive system of rare energy. General Rhys’s serious attitude towards this bomb made all military officers present highly alert.
The small “stone” contained enough energy to flatten the entire Saran planet and eliminate the alien invaders without harming any life on Earth. This energy had been collected and compressed over hundreds of years, specifically to counter the Saran aliens.
In other words, if this small “stone” successfully detonated, it could instantly wipe out the invading “octopuses” without damaging Earth.
However, this precious explosive system could only be activated by the energy emitted from the Saran’s main brain ship.
Therefore, the Alliance Army needed a small team to evade Saran warriors’ attacks on the battlefield, sneak close to the Saran main brain ship hovering over Earth’s tallest mountain.
He Qin was the leader of this infiltration team, tasked with forming a reliable squad to carry the “explosive system” to its destination and complete the mission at any cost.
He understood the dangers of a mission that could determine the outcome of the war, so he had to choose trustworthy teammates with a winning determination.
Naturally, the team required human soldiers who were smaller in stature and agile, as well as zerg warriors with top-notch combat skills.
He Qin spent an entire day contemplating before submitting his list to Lieutenant Hein.
He ultimately chose Roy and Alger, who had joined him in the zerg army, along with the zerg soldier Leon, who had trained with him. He also selected a few zerg warriors ranked among the top ten in overall competence in the Alliance Army.
He did not choose to include a medic in the team because He Qin knew that if they got injured during this mission, they would either have to endure it themselves or die under enemy fire—there would be no time for treatment.
Their lives were insignificant compared to the precious “explosive system.”
“He Qin, take it and move forward. Don’t worry about me.”
The zerg warrior named Frost, to protect the “mission,” wrapped his body around the “explosive system” like he was protecting a youngling.
He then took a hit from an enemy laser cannon, his back covered in blood, and his wings reduced to mere bones.
If it had been a human, they would have been vaporized by such an attack.
He Qin took the “energy core” from the zerg warrior’s hands, his usually cheerful face now stained with blood and dirt.
He glanced back at the brutal battlefield. Of the original twelve-person team, only three humans and two zergs remained.
Along the way, to protect the “energy core,” the once mighty zerg soldiers had rushed ahead one by one, dying under the onslaught of multiple Saran aliens.
The moment they stepped onto the battlefield, they were no longer soldiers of different standings and species. There was no disdain or dislike among them.
They were a team, and each member was a trustworthy companion.
Seeing that they were close to their destination, although the zerg warrior still had a faint breath of life, He Qin could not stop. Under Frost’s urging gaze, He Qin led the team forward with the “energy core.”
Ahead, a sizable group of Saran aliens approached, and He Qin and his team temporarily hid behind a large rock.
Perhaps witnessing so many soldiers dying before his eyes during this mission, He Qin suddenly felt a pang of anxiety.
His head became dizzy. He touched his forehead secretly, and it was so hot he could almost fry an egg.
Why was he suddenly running a fever?
He Qin hadn’t had a cold in a long time, let alone a fever.
But on this battlefield, death was nothing special, so what was a little fever? He Qin shook his head, trying to shake off the dizziness.
“Qin, what’s wrong?” Roy had been keeping an eye on He Qin’s reactions. This kid had been practically raised by Roy and Alger.
When they received the mission, they vowed to protect He Qin. At the very least, nothing should happen to him while they were around.
“It’s nothing, just a little dizzy. Maybe the laser cannon blast shook me up,” He Qin tried to smile reassuringly but found his facial muscles too sore to manage it.
How had it suddenly come to this? He could feel his heart beating faster, exceeding the normal human heart rate range defined by medical standards.
The humans couldn’t sense anything abnormal in He Qin’s body, but the three remaining zerg soldiers could.
They detected a faint scent of a male zerg amidst the ashes and blood on the battlefield.
How could there be a male zerg on the battlefield? And it seemed like this one was in the transformation phase?
The three female zergs exchanged glances and formed a triangular formation, carefully discerning the surrounding scents.
The previously faint scent of the male zerg grew stronger, and it seemed to be right next to them.
Leon, the highest-ranking of the three female soldiers, felt the genetic urge for combat rising within him.
The other two female zergs were even more agitated, their wings spread wide and eyes red, looking frenzied.
“Qin!” a human soldier shouted, drawing the attention of the three female zergs back to the humans.
Just then, He Qin had suddenly fallen back and collapsed. Roy rushed forward to check on him, finding He Qin’s face flushed and his breathing rapid.
As a member of the International Alliance, emergency medical knowledge was a must. Alger quickly loosened He Qin’s tight military uniform collar.
A much stronger scent of a male zerg emanated from the human soldier. Leon approached to check on the situation, but as he got closer, he instinctively felt weak-kneed, wanting to kneel before the prone human.
“A male zerg?” The three zerg soldiers spoke in unison.
“What?” Roy and Alger were taken aback.
The high importance the zerg soldiers placed on the mission was evident, and Roy and Alger had mentally prepared themselves to be left behind, facing the Saran army alone.
They never expected the zerg soldiers, usually so mission-focused, to become anxious upon seeing He Qin collapse and mutter something about a “male zerg.”
What was that? Some kind of zerg?
Leon had no time to explain to the humans. He was just as confused about how He Qin could be a male zerg and why he was on Earth, fighting alongside them.
He decided it was best to report this to Major General Rhys.
“Reporting to the Major General, we’ve found a male zerg in our team. What should we do about the mission?”
“You said… what?”
Author’s note:
Rhys: “What did you say? I didn’t hear that clearly…”
(In disbelief, what did I just hear?)