Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Nair Inan’s insect wings were truly magnificent, their dazzling colors perfectly complementing his hair and eye color.

Lu Cian had heard from other insects that the empire’s male insects, lacking wings themselves, enjoyed collecting them.

Only female insects possessed wings, and male insects would cruelly pluck them off to hoard as trophies.

Many female insects were unwilling to marry such males, but once chosen, they forfeited their freedom.

Male insects didn’t genuinely desire these females; they merely sought their wealth or beautiful wings. Once they acquired what they wanted, they discarded the females like refuse.

If a female couldn’t endure and perished, it was of no consequence. Male insects simply didn’t care.

Those who miraculously survived were either beaten to death in fits of rage or sold back to the Female Slave Exchange for a quick profit.

Sickened, Lu Cian never wanted to hear another word about male insects.

Since arriving in the insect society, he hadn’t heard a single positive remark about them.

Whether these males were simply sadistic, driven by a desire to collect beautiful objects, or inherently violent—their twisted minds led them to destroy what they couldn’t possess, tearing off female insects’ wings.

Lu Cian found such behavior utterly repulsive and detestable.

Such beautiful wings belonged on their owners—vibrant, alive, and graceful.

Once removed, they lost their vitality, becoming lifeless relics. What was there to collect?

However, Lu Cian’s knowledge of male insects was based solely on hearsay, so he reserved judgment.

Even if ninety percent of male insects were rotten to the core, influenced by their environment, surely there had to be a few decent ones.

Still, that was irrelevant to him. Even if there were male insects praised as saints, he wouldn’t care—he had no interest in them whatsoever.

Lu Cian preferred to remain by Nair Inan’s side.

As Wawen had mentioned, even the royal family had long coveted Nair Inan, indicating not only his high rank but also his breathtaking beauty, enough to make royalty relentlessly pursue him.

In terms of wing beauty, no female insect’s wings could rival Nair Inan’s.

Under the sunlight, his grape-purple wings unfurled, their delicate veins faintly visible through the membrane. With each gentle flutter, glittering dust scattered like golden foil, shimmering in the sun—a truly cinematic spectacle.

Lu Cian was consumed with envy.

At that moment, he suddenly wished he were a female insect, just so he could possess a pair of wings himself.

No human could resist the allure of soaring freely through the sky—it had been the cherished dream of their ancestors for generations!

What a pity. A profound pity.

Lu Cian was burning with envy and resentment. He desperately longed for a pair of wings.

Of course, not the kind collected by local male insects—but the kind that grew on his back and allowed him to fly.

"Cold?" he murmured.

Lu Cian’s excitement had given way to wistful sighs at the sight of wings he couldn’t have, leading Nair Inan to wonder if he had flown too fast.

Lu Cian was different from them; his constitution was quite frail. Nair Inan felt a pang of embarrassment; he had been truly negligent. Had he known, he wouldn't have brought Lu Cian out just for a casual stroll.

After receiving no response for a while, Nair Inan thought Lu Cian might have fallen ill from the cold wind. In his experience, male insects were such delicate creatures.

"Why aren’t you speaking?" Nair Inan leaned in to ask.

The sheer impact of such breathtaking beauty up close left Lu Cian momentarily stunned.

Back on Earth, the only woman Lu Cian had ever been physically close to was his mother.

His father had taught him to always be a gentleman with women.

To avoid trouble and his father's lectures, Lu Cian had always kept female classmates at arm's length.

By the time he was old enough to date, he was a complete novice with zero experience.

Now, faced with a stunningly beautiful being—regardless of species—standing this close, his heart was bound to pound uncontrollably.

Humans are visual creatures, and appreciating beauty is innate. Lu Cian was no exception.

"Ah? Oh, I’m fine." Coming to his senses, Lu Cian chastised himself for his shallow and audacious desires.

*Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,* as the saying goes.

Nair Inan was a male insect—a *male* insect!

Lu Cian comforted himself with this thought.

The thought worked surprisingly well, as his fluttering heartbeat quickly returned to normal.

Lu Cian let out a long sigh of relief.

However, he relaxed too soon.

A crude saying suddenly popped into his head: *After three years at the front, even a sow looks like a beauty.*

Lu Cian wanted to pull his hair out in frustration.

Nair Inan was far more attractive than a sow—no, perhaps even more beautiful than the legendary Diaochan.

Not that he'd know; he'd never seen Diaochan.

So, after three years—no, even just one year—if Lu Cian couldn’t find a way back home, would he develop feelings?

Lu Cian: "..."

After all, the essence of humanity is saying 'never' and then doing it anyway.

But... if he replaced Nair Inan with someone else—say, his own older brother—

Lu Cian: "..."

Alright, Amitabha Buddha, have mercy.

At home, Lu Cian didn't exactly fear his parents.

He was a filial child. Unless it was a matter of principle, he would listen to his elders—not from fear, but from respect.

The only person Lu Cian truly feared was his own older brother, the infamous Lu Zean.

For all eighteen years of his life, he'd been both father and brother.

But unlike his father, his elder brother wouldn't scold or lecture him—sometimes, his brother was even kind to him.

Yet, Lu Cian had always been afraid of this brother since childhood.

Whenever he misbehaved or made a mistake, a single look from his brother made him shrink.

If he had to explain why, it was probably just his aura.

There was always someone who could subdue another, and his brother’s aura seemed to naturally suppress him, which was why Lu Cian feared him so much.

When Lu Cian in his mind swapped Brother Nan's face with his brother’s, any romantic notions instantly vanished, leaving him utterly detached.

Truly, an elder brother was an elder brother—his power was just that formidable.

...

Upon reaching their destination, the insect crew touched down and retracted their wings.

Nair Inan set Lu Cian down, but the latter still looked dazed. He reached out and gave Lu Cian’s nape a pinch.

The cold touch of his fingers made Lu Cian instinctively shrink his neck.

Well, his brother also liked pinching the back of his neck—it was probably like grabbing fate by the scruff.

Lu Cian shot Nair Inan a resentful look, his eyes full of accusation. Brother Nan was definitely corrupting him.

Only when Lu Cian snapped out of it did Nair Inan withdraw his hand. "There’s still some distance to the entrance of the black market. No flying allowed there, so we’ll have to walk the rest of the way."

With that, Nair Inan tossed Lu Cian a black robe to keep him from being spotted.

Lu Cian took the robe—it was likely custom-made, since the other three insects' robes were noticeably a size larger than his.

As he put it on, he couldn’t help but ask, "We’ve already disguised ourselves. Why do we still need these robes to hide our figures and faces?"

Wawen, the first to finish dressing, replied casually, "This is the uniform inside. If you don’t, you’ll stand out."

Standing out screams 'amateur', and the black market had no use for unconventional insects.

Those who came here were all in it for profit, eager to stay low-key and vanish into the shadows the moment they got their money.

Drawing attention only marked you as a reckless fool, asking to get robbed.

Of course, some bold and skilled insects might deliberately use this to deceive their enemies.

Wawen patted the wrinkles out of his robe and said, "I’d love to play weak and fleece some marks, but circumstances don’t allow it. We’ll have to keep a low profile."

Damon frowned at his words, feeling Wawen was being too careless. He warned, "Don’t act impulsively."

Wawen rolled his eyes. "If I were truly impulsive, I wouldn’t have bothered explaining just now."

They really did need to stay low-key. Due to Nair Inan’s recent prison break, the Empire still had his scent.

The dispatched insects had no leads, and word was the Emperor was pissed enough he nearly mobilized the whole damn army.

Given Wawen’s temperament, he’d love to see the Emperor blow a gasket—preferably to death.

But if the Emperor didn’t die from anger, the entire empire might mobilize for a search, and then all hell would break loose.

In such critical times, it was best not to stir up trouble.

This time, they were dragging dead weight with them—Lu Cian’s figure clearly marked him as an underage young female insect.

But Lu Cian wasn’t actually a young female insect. While other young female insects had some combat ability, he was completely useless, making him more trouble than cargo that could be stored in a Space Button. If they caused trouble and things went south, chances were they'd likely have to ditch Lu Cian.

"Shut it. Move out." With those concise words, the insects stopped their musings and followed Nair Inan toward the black market.

After nearly an hour of walking, the land stretched empty ahead, with no buildings in sight. Lu Cian gasped, wondering when this would end.

In truth, they weren’t walking fast—the other three were deliberately slowing to his pathetic pace.

"We’re almost there. Suck it up, we're close."

Lu Cian nodded wearily.

Then, after another ten minutes of walking, the landscape remained unchanged. Lu Cian: "???"

So "almost there" was just to keep me going? Like teasing a mule with a carrot?

"Nan, level with me, just tell me how much farther we have to go," Lu Cian finally couldn’t hold back.

The whole way, he had stayed quiet, fearing nearby unfamiliar insects might overhear and cause trouble. But after over an hour, there was still no market, not one damn insect in sight.

Even if the black market wasn’t as tall as a hill, a cluster of buildings should be visible by now. Had they never heard that 'so close yet so far' crap?

Right now, they hadn’t even spotted a mountain.

Lu Cian made a face. Were they hiking across the whole damn planet?

That'd take freaking forever!

By the time they returned to their territory, wouldn’t the crops he’d just planted have grown and died twice over?

Or worse—without him tending to them, the fields would go to weeds, wasting next season's planting.

Lu Cian grumbled. This footslog was brutal. If only they had a damn hoverbike or something.