Chapter 6

The insect race, typically known for their possessiveness and aggressiveness.

But now, uncharacteristically, they were suffering consecutive defeats, signing treaties with the Alliance, willingly relinquishing their planets.

Rei browsed through several recent notices published on the Alliance's Star Network.

[Following an agreement with the insect race's stationed officials on White Tree Star, the planet now falls under the Alliance.]

[E4444 Star's insect race has been completely defeated.]

[R19 Star...]

Scanning through, Rei noted that R27 Star was not on the list.

As Rei perused the cyberbrain data, the boy couldn't help but stick close, almost jealously glancing at the semi-transparent screen. He cautiously tugged at Rei's sleeve, seeking more of her attention.

“Ro...sa?” the boy tried to speak.

Rei glanced at him, surprised, "You can talk now?"

It was impressive to note the insect race's innate learning capability. Although Rei's treatment of the boy was perfunctory, he had managed to develop language skills on his own.

“Rosa,” the boy repeated, gazing at her expectantly.

Rei corrected him, “I'm not Rosa, my name is…”

A name was on the verge of being said, but Rei paused with a hint of confusion in her eyes, then continued, “I am Rei.”

“Rei!” the boy obediently changed his address, repeating it over and over again, trying to draw Rei's attention to himself.

After just a few days together, the boy learned that Rei liked to sleep, browse her cyberbrain, and occasionally gaze out the window.

Yet she never once focused her attention on him! The boy thought sadly, wondering if the food he gathered was not enough.

Suddenly, Rei had an idea. She opened the cyberbrain’s name directory and chose one at random: “You’ll be called Ural.”

The boy memorized the syllables with which Rei called him, his eyes curving happily.

At that moment, both Ural and Rei were unaware of something.

In the insect race, those named by the queen are usually highly favored or have created significant value.

With their vast numbers, lower-ranking insects never get the chance to meet the queen, let alone the higher-ranking ones who fight tooth and nail for such an opportunity.

Though Rei had no such intentions, merely naming him for convenience.

“Boom—” Suddenly, a loud explosion came from afar.

Rei walked to the window, looked up, and saw the protective dome overhead disintegrating like debris, allowing countless bombs to plummet to the ground, creating ruins.

The protective dome in Rei's area of the vast Red Moon Zone had not yet disappeared.

“Rei,” Ural called out anxiously.

Eager to lead Rei away from danger, Ural was impatient.

In truth, he was quite dissatisfied with their current dwelling – too small, ugly, and scarce on food. If Rei hadn't shown a desire to stay, Ural would have longed to claim a new territory.

“Alright,” Rei sighed, “Time to find a new place.”

Reynolds and Delis seemed to have completely forgotten about “Rosa,” the hybrid, never contacting her again, and even the robot that delivered meals daily had vanished.

Rei went back to her room, changed into light, black clothing, and put on a cap. She also found a new set of clothes for Ural, along with a suitably sized backpack, packing all the remaining portable nutrient fluids.

“Carry this,” Rei unceremoniously tasked Ural.

Ural happily took it.

With her new companion in tow, Rei left without a second thought.

-

Half a month later.

“What did the main planet say?” Lin coughed violently, spitting out blood, and asked hoarsely, “I remember your clearance can contact them.”

Levi, frowning while bandaging his arm, replied. His self-healing ability had drastically declined. “The usual ‘abandon when necessary’ strategy. Several legion commanders on different planets have already died.”

Lin fell silent for a moment, then scoffed coldly: “What a godsend opportunity for the Alliance.”

"I've never experienced such a terrible decline cycle," Levi sighed, reloading his gun.

"You're surprisingly optimistic. Every decline cycle is equally torturous for me," Lin scoffed bitterly, his tone laced with thick malice. "Well, that makes sense since you're an anomaly."

Levi aimed at a distant Alliance mech and pulled the trigger, precisely piercing its core energy source.

The mech collapsed with a thunderous crash.

"Let's head back," Levi said, "The sedatives should have been delivered by now."

"Wait..." Lin frowned, "Looks like they've sent another batch of automated mechs."

Lin tapped his earpiece cyberbrain, alerting other members to the attack and to stay on guard.

Hundreds of mechs nearby deactivated their cloaking, locking on their targets and firing laser cannons.

"There are too many," Levi cursed under his breath.

Lin narrowly dodged a close-range mech. During the decline phase, the insect race’s strength significantly diminishes, making close combat with the enemy their least favorable option.

Every insect naturally possesses the ability to sense information, strong or weak, capturing all nearby movements advantageous or harmful to them.

But now, they had lost this ability, relying only on years of combat instinct and experience.

Countless close-combat mechs charged, with a few reactivating their cloaking mid-approach. The tension in some members was so high they didn’t notice the enemy’s clumsy sneak attacks.

Lin grunted in pain,

This was bad.

He smirked bitterly to himself.

Meanwhile, Rei and Ural watched all this from a concealed spot, observing coldly.

"Rei?" Ural frowned deeply, "It's dangerous."

In the half month since they left, Rei had led him aimlessly, witnessing many such scenes.

Ural had repeatedly yearned to destroy these sources of unrest, but Rei never allowed it, so he obediently restrained himself.

Rei’s gaze fell on Levi, feeling a hint of puzzlement.

He had become so weak.

Thinking about the decisive help and friendly reminders Levi had provided in the past, Rey worried anxiously about what she would do if he died.

It might not be possible to find such a friendly insect race to cooperate with next time.

Seeing them overwhelmed and seemingly unable to hold on, Rey thought for a moment, then turned to the restless Ural and said, "Go and deal with those things."

Rey had heard the noise of Ural stealthily killing an alien species in the middle of the night.

The alien species were more complex and troublesome than mechs. In Rey's eyes, the mechs were just a bunch of moving scrap metal, not worth her effort to deal with personally.

On hearing this, Ural immediately sprang into action to attack.

His arms shimmered with fine, densely packed silver scales, growing sharp claws that swiftly tore the mechs apart.

"What is that?" Levi wondered in surprise.

Soon, with Ural's involvement, they quickly regained their footing, reclaiming the overwhelming victory typical of their insect race.

After destroying the last mech, Ural hurried back to Rey's side, full of anticipation.

Rey said disdainfully, "Too slow."

Ural's spirits fell immediately. He pursed his lips and said, "Rey, I'll do better next time."

"Is it you?" Levi's gaze shifted to Rey in surprise.

"Half-blood." Lin Si approached them and said to Ural, "As a fellow clan member, I'm grateful for your help. But is this why you haven't fallen into a period of decline?"

Lin Si's towering figure cast a shadow over Rey. Looking up, she saw his unstable condition, the smell of sweet blood on him, and his combat suit torn in several places. His green eyes stared intensely at her, the corners of his eyes marked with strange, twisted dark red cracks, making his appearance even more dreadful.

Levi quickly stepped forward to hold Lin Si back, speaking in a low voice, "Don't worry, I know her. I'll explain later."

Lin Si paused, giving Rey a puzzled look, while being stared at hostilely by Ural.

Rey was used to the insect race's dislike of her and felt nothing, simply stepping back quietly to maintain a distance from them.

After a moment's thought, Rey said, "This is your reward for the help you gave me earlier."

"Thank you for your assistance," Levi said, pausing as he received instructions from his cyber-brain. "This isn't a good place for a conversation. Do you need to accompany us to the camp? It's at least a temporary shelter."

"Are you crazy?!" Lin Si said incredulously, as the other combat partners gathered around, looking at Rey and the others with various expressions.

Rey, hesitating, asked, "Is there food?"

"Of course," Levi replied, cheerfully ignoring the opposition from other insectoids.

Seeing Levi's insistence, Lin Si reluctantly complied with his decision for the time being. Although Lin Si was the nominal leader, Levi held special authority over him.

Rey nodded slightly and followed them.

Along the way, Levi tentatively said, "Can you temporarily deactivate your half-blood disguise? There are too many insectoids at the camp, and I might not be able to fend off all the trouble that comes your way."

Rey stopped, pondered for a moment, and asked evenly, "If I'm not a half-blood, will they not attack me?"

"Of course not," Levi said, surprised, pondering over Rey's strange line of thought.

Rey glanced at Ural, who was on alert.

She faintly felt as if she was touching another reality, as if the world was different from her distant, blurry memories.

Should she take the risk?

After all, they were so weak that they wouldn't be able to stop her from escaping again.

Thinking this, Rey slowly deactivated her initial disguise, and several black lines appeared under her feet as a precaution against sudden attacks—including from Ural.

“……”

A moment of silence ensued as they collectively froze in place.

Like a dead seed sprouting, the heart began to beat again, glimpsing a starlight in the darkness.

It was just a fleeting sensation, but it left them stunned for a long time.

Rey looked at them in silence for a while, even Ural staring at her dumbly, his eyes filled with increased longing.

Rey frowned, "What's wrong?"