Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Preoccupied, Lu Cian’s steps were naturally slow. The tall figure ahead, with his long strides, covered three times the distance with each step, quickly leaving Lu Cian far behind.

Luo Ke, seeing the other’s sluggish pace, took a couple of quick steps, grabbed his arm, and unexpectedly, Lu Cian lost his footing and tumbled to the ground.

Though the ground was smooth, for some reason, his hand felt as if it had been seared, instantly blistering and peeling. The burning sensation made Lu Cian leap up immediately.

The searing pain jolted Lu Cian’s nerves, snapping his dazed mind awake. He cried out involuntarily, "It’s so hot!"

With pain this intense, Lu Cian could no longer deceive himself—this wasn’t a dream. He had… transmigrated!

Lu Cian froze for a moment. His first thought was: *Holy shit, something as trendy as transmigration actually happened to me?!*

His second thought was: *What about my family and friends?*

His third thought was utter despair—deep, overwhelming, soul-crushing despair.

Though worlds might differ, he could still recognize the identity of the "person" before him: likely a police officer in this world.

Combined with the earlier accusation of being a "stowaway"... did that mean he was going to jail?

Lu Cian’s face fell. Who would’ve thought he’d get arrested on his very first day?

He sighed. Maybe it was for the best. Without any identity, as an illegal alien, he’d have been caught sooner or later anyway.

Luo Ke was startled to see the stowaway injured from just a casual push. "How are you this weak?" he exclaimed, shocked.

Or had he somehow gotten stronger?

Lu Cian: "..."

Staring at his injury, Lu Cian wondered the same thing—when had he become so fragile?

Aside from the burn on his hand, the exposed skin on his body was visibly reddening.

Luo Ke took one look and scoffed, "You got a little sunlight and ended up like this? You’re even more delicate than the Homeworld's male elites!"

Grabbing Lu Cian by the collar, Luo Ke yanked him upright—only for the back of his shirt to rip open with a loud *rrrip*.

Luo Ke: "..."

Lu Cian: "..."

Lu Cian distinctly remembered this outfit being quite sturdy.

Seeing the expanse of porcelain-white skin revealed, Luo Ke was momentarily startled. But when he caught a glimpse of the bug-like markings on the neck, he relaxed.

*That scared me. I almost thought this was a male insect.*

Impatiently, Luo Ke pulled out a bottle and sprayed it over Lu Cian’s hand. The burn healed before their eyes, with some impurities oozing out from the wound due to the medicine’s reaction.

The pain vanished. Without caring about hygiene, Lu Cian wiped his hand clean on his torn shirt and confirmed the wound was truly gone.

Though inwardly shocked, he didn't dare react.

Judging by the alien’s expression, this seemed like a trivial matter.

Lu Cian feared that if he exclaimed in surprise, he might be exposed as a non-native. If the locals realized something was off, would he be dissected for research?!

Then what was the point of transmigrating? If he’d just fallen off that mountainside, he might as well have died outright!

Of course, Lu Cian was overthinking it.

If he acted overly surprised, Luo Ke would’ve just dismissed him as an ignorant, backward insect.

"What are you spacing out for? Now that your wound’s healed, keep moving."

This little female insect was so fragile that Luo Ke didn’t dare push him again, afraid he’d just topple over at the slightest touch.

*By the Insect God, this little female insect is as fragile as glass—even more delicate than the Homeworld's male elites!*

Lu Cian was still in a daze, unable to process the fact that he’d actually transmigrated.

Following Luo Ke, he moved mechanically, like a zombie obeying orders.

The street wasn’t far from Luo Ke’s workplace, but to Lu Cian, the walk felt painfully long—so long that his feet were nearly burned to blisters!

...

Larenha Prison was the largest—and only—prison on the planet Larenha.

Larenha itself was an unremarkable planet among the many in the galaxy, so its biggest prison was nothing more than a minor facility in the vast insectoid star system.

"Name? Age? Gender? Height? Weight? Home address? Family members? Reason for stowing away? Route taken? Tools used? Confess everything!"

Luo Ke pulled out a data pad, the stylus tapping against the screen with a beeping sound. The rapid-fire questions bombarded Lu Cian, leaving him utterly bewildered.

At first, though intimidated by the alien’s size, Lu Cian had obediently followed him, reassured that he could at least somewhat understand the alien’s speech.

On Earth, even within a single country, there were thousands of languages.

This was an alien species—their language shouldn’t have resembled Chinese at all.

Yet, by sheer coincidence, this alien race’s speech bore some resemblance to Mandarin.

Unfortunately, their accent was slightly different from what Lu Cian knew.

It was like a native Mandarin speaker traveling to another region and hearing locals speak with a thick dialect.

The alien spoke quickly and urgently.

Lu Cian stood frozen, unable to react—because he genuinely hadn’t caught most of what was said.

Luo Ke was impatient. This little female insect had been acting slow-witted the entire way. Now, seeing no response, he assumed the other might actually have a screw loose and felt a pang of sympathy.

Right then, he gave Lu Cian a new name.

"From now on, you’ll be called Baker. Short and sweet."

When Lu Cian still just gaped, Luo Ke repeated loudly, "Baker! Baker! Your name is Baker now, understand?"

Luo Ke's massive frame could practically fit three and a half of Lu Cian, and his booming voice rolled like thunder, leaving Lu Cian dizzy and ears ringing as he staggered back, nearly tumbling to the ground.

Lu Cian covered his ears, listening to the clumsy alien language, and nodded frantically, "Okay, okay, I heard you! Stop shouting!"

Luo Ke smacked his lips, processing the little female insect's reply, which sounded like the whimpers of an insect larva.

Insect God above, this little female insect was pitifully weak—even her voice was so soft. If she ended up in prison, those hardened cons would surely bully her to death!

What a shame!

If she were a little female insect from the home planet, she’d probably be adored by the sir males there.

After all, the sir males loved handsome, weak, and petite female insects like her!

Poor thing, with such promising prospects—how did she end up stowing away into Larenha Planet?

So pitiful, so weak, not even worth checking his background.

The more Luo Ke looked at Lu Cian, the more sympathy he felt. He decided to do a good deed and help this little female insect.

Maybe she had fled to Larenha Planet because life on the fringe planets was unbearable. Look how terrified she was—her face had gone pale!

Luo Ke shook his head with a sigh, while Lu Cian stood there bewildered, completely unaware that this hulking guard was fretting over his future prison life.

"Poor little bug, you haven’t even undergone your Second Evolution yet, have you? I'll find you a good cellmate. Hope you'll get through the next year in prison."

Luo Ke wanted to pat his shoulder reassuringly, but as he raised his massive hand—big enough to engulf his whole body—he hesitated and didn’t dare to follow through.

Embarrassed, he withdrew his hand and patted his own chest instead, relieved: *Good thing I didn’t pat him. One slap and this little female insect might just collapse on the spot!*

Terrifying. Where did this fragile little female insect come from? So delicate that even touching her seemed dangerous.

Luo Ke led the way while Lu Cian followed. When they reached a smooth wall, Luo Ke stopped.

Lu Cian watched as he pressed something on the wall, and suddenly, an opening appeared, disgorging a box.

Luo Ke took the box and casually handed it to Lu Cian. Though the box wasn’t large, it was unexpectedly heavy. Lu Cian’s arms buckled under the weight, nearly dropping it as he stumbled forward.

Seeing this, Luo Ke sighed again. *So weak! How can anyone be this weak?!*

Not long after, Luo Ke led him to a cell. He knocked on the metal door first, then entered his fingerprint and passcode to open it. "Blair, I brought you a new cellmate—a complete newbie. Break him in for now."

A young man named Blair stepped forward, his light golden hair and pale blue eyes twinkling as he smiled at Luo Ke. "No problem, Brother Luo. Leave it to me. I’ll make sure he knows all the prison taboos."

Luo Ke ruffled Blair’s hair and patted his shoulder. "I’ve always trusted you with these things. Alright, I’m off."

With that, Luo Ke turned and closed the metal door behind him.

Witnessing this weirdly chummy "guard-and-inmate buddy act," Lu Cian was stunned.

*Maybe the alien language is different from ours? Did I misunderstand earlier? Am I not actually in prison but working for some company?*

The scene of a boss cheerfully delegating work to an employee felt eerily familiar!

Once Luo Ke was gone, Blair didn’t put on any false pretenses. Instead, he greeted Lu Cian warmly.

"Hey, I’m Blair. Wound up here for offending a sir male. What about you, friend? What’s your name, and what landed you here?"

To Blair, Lu Cian was even shorter than him—an already weak bug—by half a head. Probably… a juvenile?

Since he was just a bug kid, and seemed so harmless, he couldn’t have committed any serious crime. Maybe he offended a noble? Or, like Blair, a sir male?

But bug kids had strong pride, so Blair didn’t look down on him. Instead, he treated him as an equal.

Blair spoke slowly enough for Lu Cian to barely understand.

*No sense being unfriendly to someone friendly. Since I’m here, I might as well adapt.* Lu Cian needed to gather information, so he answered courteously, "Hello, I’m Lu Cian."

As a child, Lu Cian had been sickly, so his parents gave him an inauspicious-sounding name to counteract misfortune.

No scientific basis—pure superstition.

To outsiders, the name might sound unlucky, as if his parents disliked him. But hidden within it was their hope: for their son to be free from suffering and live in peace.