Chapter 2 Awakening

Chapter 2 Coming To

The noise in his ears gradually faded away, and the demonic frenzy in his dream slowly dissipated. A glaring white light pierced through the cracks, swelling until a cold, stark white dominated his vision.

Su Jibai woke up.

It was strange. He had only fallen asleep accidentally, yet his head pounded with pain, and the ringing in his ears was as piercing as a rooster's crow, leaving him restless.

Su Jibai knit his brows tightly, moving uncomfortably, and immediately felt waves of dizziness. His body was inexplicably sore and weak, as if it had been run over by a cart.

"Your Excellency Samuel, you're awake?" A clear, bright voice rang out not far away, tinged with surprise.

Samuel? Is he calling me? And why 'Your Excellency'? Not 'Young Master'?

Suppressing his discomfort, Su Jibai turned his head in confusion. Beside a strange, beeping device stood a person dressed in odd clothing, with delicate, soft features, wearing makeup...

Hmm... a man?

Why has the person taking care of him and the room changed? And why is it decorated so strangely?

"Your Excellency Samuel, how are you feeling now?" The pretty man moved closer, his face showing concern, his voice carrying a hint of shyness.

Realizing his behavior might be inappropriate, Su Jibai felt a bit embarrassed. He steadied himself and asked softly, "Where's Fu Ling? Why isn't she attending to me today?"

Upon receiving this response, the person before him didn't seem reassured; instead, he abruptly lost his smile, looking puzzled. "Your Excellency Samuel, what did you just say? I'm sorry, I didn't understand. Could you please repeat it?"

Didn't understand?

Su Jibai keenly sensed something amiss. He stopped speaking, silently tucking his face under the blanket, leaving only his eyes to observe his surroundings.

White walls, white sheets, a strange, pungent smell...

The decor style somewhat resembled that of the Christian hospital in Jinling City, but he had never seen those bizarre machines covered in tubes in any hospital.

New equipment?

But if this was the Christian hospital, what was with this man? A new nurse? But why did he have pink hair and pink eyes? This was too bizarre.

An indescribable unease rose from the depths of Su Jibai's heart. Was this a new scheme orchestrated by his second uncle? That didn't seem right either; his second uncle shouldn't have the capability to arrange all this.

Could someone be helping his second uncle?

The thought of a time he had gone out carelessly, fallen into a trap, and woken up midway lying on a bed in a "pleasure house" made Su Jibai shiver all over. Trembling, he wrapped himself tighter in the blanket, habitually donning his usual disguise.

"Your Excellency Samuel, what's wrong with you!"

An anxious voice leaped from a few steps away to the bedside, and the blanket he was using as a shield was tugged downward.

Su Jibai clutched the sheet tightly. Memories of being whipped prompted him to instinctively adjust his posture. Enduring the discomfort, he curled up, protecting his head and abdomen.

The nurse (a sub-female insect) sensed something was wrong. She turned and quickly pressed the emergency button. Soon after, a series of hurried, chaotic footsteps approached from afar.

With a loud clang, the door was pushed open roughly. The attending doctor strode quickly to the bedside, glanced at the situation on the bed, and asked in a low voice what had happened. The sub-female insect nurse hastily whispered a description of the events.

"Your Excellency, I am your attending doctor. Where are you feeling unwell?" the attending doctor asked gently.

No insect responded.

Seeing this, a uniformed female insect nearby also stepped to the bedside, inquiring with concern, "Your Excellency, I am Director Bulan of the Male Insect Protection Association. You can communicate anything with me. The Association will definitely do everything in its power to help you."

Still, no insect responded.

Hiding under the blanket, Su Jibai pondered the term "doctor," committing it to memory. Meanwhile, he deliberately gripped the corner of the blanket tightly, trembling. Before long, faint, intermittent sobs could be heard in the hospital room.

The medical staff present all held their breath in unison upon hearing this. Some insects, recalling the events of the previous night, felt their noses sting and their eyes redden.

Yesterday had been an utterly ordinary day.

As night fell, the medical staff at the emergency center had finished treating the sick insects who had arrived and were finally taking a rare moment to rest at the duty station. Who would have thought that the next second, alarms blared? Minutes later, a black-haired insect was carried off a medical vehicle and sent to the emergency room.

At the first sight of this insect, the medical staff's eyes lit up: what a pretty sub-female. After that, no one asked another question; they all threw themselves into emergency treatment—it was all too common in the Empire for sub-female insects or military female insects to be severely injured.

After all, there were always some male insects with peculiar tastes who didn't know how to control their strength. As long as they didn't kill the insect, no one would openly say anything.

But if the situation were reversed, any female insect who harmed a male insect would be skinned alive, even if not killed. What an unfair treatment, yet no insect saw anything wrong with it.

It was no wonder, given that the Empire's male insect birth rate was declining more and more, with the male-to-female ratio reaching an alarming 1:1000.

Under such a ratio, many female insects would go their entire lives without receiving a male insect's pheromones, forced to endure the turmoil in their Mind Sea, waiting for death to arrive first.

The yearly increasing female insect mortality rate and the exponentially declining male insect birth rate were intensifying social conflicts within the Empire.

To maintain the Empire's stability, in recent years, the government had not only further elevated the status of male insects but also continued to relax marriage policies, no longer restricting the number of Concubines or female slaves. This had also led to female slave traffickers becoming increasingly rampant.

Ah, the medical staff sighed inwardly. This sub-female insect was also unfortunate—sold off and then ending up with a brutal male insect.

Just look, when the clothes were cut open, there wasn't a single good spot on the abdomen. Besides the stab wounds currently being treated, there were even scabbed whip marks, burn scars, and blue-purple bruises all around.

It was unclear what drug had been used on the female insect to suppress wound healing; otherwise, with the insect race's self-healing ability, it was impossible to leave so many marks.

Daring to use drugs like that—it was clearly aimed at taking the insect's life!

What a sin!

After treating the few urgent wounds on the abdomen, the attending doctor signaled a nearby medical staff member to help the sick insect remove the blood-stained clothes to facilitate treating the neck injury.

Who would have thought that halfway through removing the clothes, the medical staff member froze in place, trembling as if they had seen a ghost.

"What's wrong?" the attending doctor asked.

"Attending... Doctor... You'd better come take a look," the medical staff member stammered, pointing to a spot slightly below the sick insect's neck. "I feel... we... might be done for..."

"It's just removing clothes, what's there to be done for..." The attending doctor, skeptical, walked over and looked down. Well, the sick insect's neck was clean and white, completely empty.

A heavy silence filled the room.

Then, the emergency room erupted in a silent explosion.

Which despicable insect is trying to ruin me?! Have the guts to come at me openly!

What kind of ability is it to throw a male insect at me?!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

This is going to kill me!

"Quick... quickly dress His Excellency properly!" the attending doctor ordered in a trembling voice, his mind racing. "Also! Send an insect to immediately notify the MPA. Tell them a severely injured male insect has been found and ask them to come over right away."

The assisting insect, after a brief moment of stunned silence, also realized the severity of the situation. They stumbled and ran out the door. Clang, the hospital room door opened and closed. The insects in the emergency room dared not move, dared not look, each counting the seconds, cosplaying as wooden insects.

The medical staff member responsible for dressing had completely lost his initial composure. Breaking out in a cold sweat, he forced himself to avert his gaze, his hands trembling as he restored the male insect's clothing to its original state.

Once the clothes were back on, all the insects finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If they had noticed it any later, they might have really been sued!

Damn it!

What despicable insect dared to harm His Excellency, the male insect!

He looked barely adult.

The doctors: Heartbroken to the point of being unable to breathe.jpg

Once again hearing the sobs, the doctors clutched their chests and turned their furious gazes in unison toward the accompanying Idris.

Seeing this, Bulan, equally angry and heartbroken, couldn't help but shoot a fierce glare at Idris as well.

Idris: ?

Are you insects out of your minds, so swayed by a pretty face!

Idris was too drained to retort. He forcefully suppressed the urge to use his psychic energy, silently reminding himself to stay calm.

The matter of the male insect's injury had to be resolved properly. If compensation was possible, then compensate. If not, they had to negotiate until the male insect relented. Otherwise, once it went through judicial proceedings, even the military might not be able to protect him.

He couldn't afford to be ruined by this male insect.

Masking the dangerous glint in his eyes, Idris recalled the look the male insect had given him the previous night. He then stepped forward slowly with a smile on his face.

The nurse, a sub-female, was very perceptive. She stood up and, before leaving, couldn't help but remind him, "His Excellency Samuel has just woken up and is still very afraid of others, Major General. Please be gentle... don't frighten him."

Hearing the sub-female nurse's kind reminder, Idris nodded gently. He naturally knew his tone needed to be softer. Male insects were always easily frightened, and this one had just been through a kidnapping; he must be terrified.

But wasn't 'Samuel' just a temporary name the hospital had applied for from the MPA for the convenience of prescribing medicine? Now that the male insect was awake, why was the medical staff still calling him that in front of him?

To avoid any misunderstanding, Idris thought for a moment and decided it was better to use the common respectful term for a male insect, lest the male insect seize upon his mistake and affect the compensation negotiations.

"Your Excellency, I am Major General Idris of the Second Legion. You briefly regained consciousness yesterday, and we met. I wonder if you remember?"

Idris?

Su Jibai, hiding under the blanket, tilted his head in thought. A few fragmented images flashed through his mind—something seemed to have exploded, someone rushed to his side and shielded him in their arms.

But when he tried to recall further, a sharp pain suddenly erupted from the depths of his mind, causing Su Jibai to groan and break out in a cold sweat. After recovering for a while and trying to remember again, those fragmented images were completely gone.

After racking his brains for a long time, Su Jibai only vaguely recalled that his second uncle had come to see him yesterday. Not wanting to deal with him, he had hidden in his brother's room all day and hadn't seen anyone else.

Could it be that he had met him yesterday and forgotten?

Rubbing his temples, which were still throbbing dully, Su Jibai secretly decided that, to be safe, he would continue pretending to be mute for now.

Having settled on a plan, Su Jibai felt slightly more relaxed. He rested his head on the back of his hand with interest, savoring the voice he had just heard.

Soft, clear, and cool, like his favorite honey tea.

Hmm, much nicer than the earlier group's chattering, affected, high-pitched voices. Listening carefully, it even sounded a bit like "brother's" voice.

Thinking of "brother," Su Jibai felt a bit sad, but more than that, uneasy. His brother hadn't written back in half a year, and he had no idea how he was doing now.

Before falling asleep, he had been planning how to avoid his uncle's surveillance to go find "brother," but then he woke up here.

No, he had to find a way out quickly.

Thinking this, Su Jibai slowly extended his hand from under the blanket. He could sense the speaker wasn't far away. Perhaps he could use him to first test the attitude of the people outside?

"Your Excellency Samuel, what do you want?" Seeing movement under the blanket, the sub-female nurse couldn't help but quickly ask.

As soon as these words were spoken, the hand that had been reaching out and exploring instantly withdrew back under the covers.

All the insects: !!!

So cute! And they all turned to glare at the sub-female nurse.

Seeing that the male insect wasn't ignoring him like before, Idris deliberately softened his tone to reassure him. "Your Excellency, don't be afraid."

A moment later, a pale, slender hand tentatively emerged again, creeping forward until it finally touched the hem of Idris's uniform and gave it a very gentle tug.

Idris leaned down slightly following the pull. The insect on the bed was almost enveloped in his shadow.

"Your Excellency, what is it?"

The clear voice was still gentle, but this time it carried a hint of laughter, making it even sweeter. It also sounded even more like his brother. Su Jibai felt his ears grow hot, teased by the faint smile from above.

So the hand clutching the fabric tugged again.

It seemed like a coquettish gesture.

Author's Note:

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Started the story a bit late, so I'll punish myself with an extra chapter. [pitiful]

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Insect Calendar 4056, July x, Sunny, Monday

Insect God bless, may that male insect not be as spoiled and incomprehensible as the others. [praying hands emoji]