Chapter 136

Chapter 136

Although Duodas Planet was a "penal colony," the emperor kept up appearances, ensuring the male bugs received decent treatment.

The Federation, being newly established, lacked many facilities. While the cafeteria food was decent, the males were more finicky, dissatisfied with this and that.

The Shelley Clan had lived in seclusion for years, raising male bugs differently from the Empire. The imprisoned males bore no grudges, and the young ones who left the Shelley Clan didn’t grow up like typical imperial male bugs.

Even so, male bugs were inevitably a bit spoiled and unruly.

Moreover, the emperor had deliberately spoiled them. It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to reverse. The males had become thoroughly spoiled.

The royal family dreaded the Shelley Clan and sought to eradicate them entirely, unwilling to spare even the male bugs.

However, male bugs were precious and couldn’t be killed. Instead, the royal family planned to use brainwashing and arranged marriages to alienate them, making them renounce the Shelley Clan and weaken their lineage.

For those with fiercer temperaments, they wouldn’t kill them but would confine and break them psychologically.

Male bugs were fragile-willed. If they couldn’t endure such conditions and chose suicide, it would be their own fault.

Yet many were assimilated—bad habits like laziness were easily picked up, while good ones like diligence were hard to cultivate.

Nair Inan hadn’t thought poorly of the Shelley Clan’s male bugs before, but everything paled in comparison. Next to Lu Cian, they couldn't compare, and he found them displeasing.

Nair Inan even recognized a familiar male, slightly younger than him, who once clung to his mother’s arms, swearing to become a war hero like her.

Now, just a few years later, he had turned into that insufferable, entitled brat…

Did he ever look in the mirror and recall his past, appalled by his own reflection?

Probably not.

If he had any sense of shame, he wouldn’t have become like this.

Nair Inan’s face darkened. "Tell them the Shelley Clan has no use for trash. Those unwilling to stay can leave!"

Lu Cian mused, Brother Nan’s words were bold, but if any male actually asked to leave, would they really send them back?

Lu Cian mediated, "Why not send them to the Male Insect School?"

He figured these males were just idle. A day of classes, exhausting them to the point of barely walking, would leave no energy for complaints.

Wawen replied, "We did. But after half a day, they pitched fits, demanding to return. If refused, they had meltdowns."

Lu Cian was at a loss—textbook spoiled brats.

What to do with unruly children?

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Beat them. If they misbehave, tan their hides or starve them. Never indulge them."

Wawen gave a thumbs-up. "Brutal."

"But don’t be too harsh. If they rebel and something happens, it’d be bad."

Wawen nodded. "Don’t worry. They’re just spineless and spoiled."

Lu Cian understood. After enduring so much hardship, finally reunited with family, yet denied instant gratification, they acted out. Some proper conditioning would straighten them out.

After dismissing Wawen, Lu Cian followed Nair Inan to his room.

Lately, Lu Cian had been staying with Nair Inan without even pretending to need reasons. He sensed their relationship was just one confession away.

Still, one question nagged at him. "Brother Nan, why did the emperor imprison you on Larenha Planet?"

Nair Inan knew what Lu Cian wanted to hear. "He wouldn’t risk keeping me on the capital planet or Duodas."

"My existence was safest far from the capital and the remnants of the Shelley Clan."

"The emperor values his life too much to keep danger close, even if minimized."

"He couldn’t imprison me with my clan. I’m the Shelley Clan’s rallying point. As long as I live, hope remains."

"He also couldn’t kill me. His conscience stayed his hand."

Had the Shelley Clan truly rebelled, the emperor would’ve been justified in wiping them out. But it was a lie, and many clans knew, biding their time.

If the emperor went too far, the other clans would rise up.

Lu Cian said, "You’re impressive, Brother Nan. Even the emperor had to think twice."

Nair Inan gave a wry smile, neither confirming nor denying the praise.

He was indeed impressive.

Lu Cian stared, dazed. Christ, Brother Nan shouldn’t smile in public—it was devastating!

Covering his nose, Lu Cian muttered, "I’ll go wash up!" and fled to the bathroom, in a hurry.

Watching him disappear, Nair Inan’s mouth quirked involuntarily.

...

The Parn family’s male bugs weren’t bottom-tier, but neither were they elite. Over the years, they’d built substantial wealth.

Before leaving, they converted much of it into supplies.

Upon arriving in the Federation, the Parn Patriarch put these resources at their disposal.

Nair Inan was surprised to find they had several warp cores.

No wonder the Parn Patriarch joined the Federation without hesitation—he had leverage.

With these, they could establish more space stations, creating more decoys.

In return, the Federation ensured the Parn family was handsomely rewarded.

Nair Inan granted them a substantial sum of credits.

In the Federation’s early days, credits went a long way.

Lu Cian also contributed. Though his personal assets were meager, the Male Insect School was his. He granted the Parn Patriarch the headmaster position.

This way, should Ximeno slack off in class, his boss would be right there to 'encourage' him every day.

...

Nair Inan obtained the warp engines and struck while the iron was hot, planning to establish several more space stations.

Having only one set of space stations in operation made it easy for hostile forces to take them all out at once.

There was a location Nair Inan had scouted long ago—within the junk planet on the outskirts of the asteroid belt.

Junk planets didn’t attract much attention, and that region was densely packed with planets while also being close to the asteroid belt, making it unsuitable for large starships to traverse. Without a massive number of troops warping in, capturing the Federation would be tough.

Originally, Nair Inan had considered building a space station inside the asteroid belt, but the chaotic asteroid fields made it nearly impossible to find a stable location.

If a space station got swept away by the turbulence, they'd lose everything.

With Nair Inan busy with the space stations, he had no time to spare for Lu Cian.

Lu Cian, with time on his hands, wandered around Central Star.

The crop fields were already on track, so Lu Cian didn’t need to supervise them constantly.

"I told you farming was easy, and it really isn’t that hard," Lu Cian remarked.

Landon chuckled. "You’re right, Mr. Lu. Once you get used to it, it’s not difficult. But everything is tough at the beginning, and cultivating premium strains isn’t that simple either."

Lu Cian nodded. "It’s a stage that requires grit and patience. You can’t rush it."

"Keep it up!" Lu Cian gave Landon a pep talk before leaving. He had finally trained a successor, getting himself out of that rut.

During their absence, the Federation had kept growing and was now capable of operating on its own.

The planet was divided into neighborhoods, with many housing units constructed for the Insect People.

Millions of Insect People moved right in.

The guard insects brought back from Planet Doudas, along with the concubines of Ximeno’s group of male insects, were first detained for a while to break them in.

With more insects around, the various departments Lu Cian had previously established now had more candidates, and vacant positions were quickly filled after evaluations.

Faced with new hope, the insects were highly motivated, and the Federation was booming.

Though Wawen disliked work, he had finished revising the law books assigned to him. After reviewing them, Lu Cian signed off on it: "This will be our Federation’s legal code. Let’s call it the *Federation Code*."

"How basic," Wawen criticized bluntly.

Lu Cian shrugged. "If you’ve got better ideas, you come up with something?"

Wawen dropped the issue and instead asked, "You finished reading it that fast? Any revisions needed?"

Lu Cian shook his head. "Round up some others to discuss it together. It’ll need revisions in the future anyway."

Wawen frowned. "Why revise it later? Why not perfect it now?"

Lu Cian said patiently, "Nothing is accomplished overnight. Do you expect to get fat in one bite?"

Wawen scoffed. "You just want to slack off. No need for all that fancy talk."

Lu Cian rolled his eyes. Some things were better left unsaid—Wawen’s bluntness was practically begging to get punched!

Besides, as a human who only knew theory, what business did he have trying to dictate the laws of the Insect People?

Just getting the ball rolling was already commendable.

At noon, Lu Cian visited the cafeteria.

He discovered that the head chef brought back from Doudas was also there.

Seeing Lily looking on amused, Lu Cian asked what was going on.

Lily grinned. "This chef wants to learn cooking from the robot insect."

Lu Cian: "..."

What's his deal?

His cooking was miles better than the robot insect’s—why would he lower himself to learning from it?

"Though the robot insect’s food isn’t bad, it’s hardly at a level worth learning from, right?"

This was a chef trained on the Empire’s home planet, after all!

Lily shrugged. "If we don’t let him learn, he just throws a fit in the cafeteria. It’s unbearable—can’t kick him out, can’t hit him. Brother Sang had no choice but to give in."

Lu Cian facepalmed. Who’d have thought such a big insect would turn out to be a persistent pest?

"With so many of you around, why not just drag him out? And you—why are you just spectating? Why hasn’t Brother Sang come to beat you up yet?"

Lily pouted. "I *did* help! I put in a lot of effort, but he scratched me several times. Who knew a chef could be so strong? Broke my skin and everything."

"Really?" Lu Cian was skeptical. Chefs were strong, but Lily was even bigger now.