Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Taste wasn't a comfortable ride, but he was quick—by evening, they'd reached the vicinity of the interstellar port.

The port area was noisy, with insects from every department milling about, a riot of colorful hair and skin bustling around. Compared to the sterile silver-white of the Purification Department's lab, this place felt way more lively.

Taste slipped into a construction site like he knew the place inside out, the sounds of various machinery rising and falling across the grounds.

Thanks to his excellent warrior-class physique, after helping set up a few steel beams, he scored himself a hot drink.

Then he grabbed another gig—fixing some wiring. Turns out Taste was a licensed electrician too.

Remembering the long list of certs Taste had flashed on his terminal earlier, Yor changed her mind about this sketchy-looking insect. Who knew he was such a grind?

The whole ride here was like cruising on a motorcycle without a helmet—freezing wind blasting your face. Her forehead, which had just unlocked some weird new ability, felt numb and tingly.

Taking a sip of the hot drink Taste had just handed her, Yor let out a long, relieved sigh. But before she could finish exhaling, a sharp crack burst from Taste's workstation, with a flash that looked like fire.

Yor jumped and rushed over. Taste was standing there, totally fine, though the wire in his hand was blackened at one end, and so was his palm.

Dude clearly got zapped. What kind of electrician gets shocked while fixing a circuit?!

Yor roasted him in her head but still asked out loud, "What happened? Didn't you cut the power?"

"I did!"

"Then why did you get shocked?"

Taste gave a sheepish grin. "I cut the power after I got shocked!"

"..."

Maybe all those shocks had fried his brain to begin with.

Taste was still chuckling, looking totally fine. Yor couldn't be bothered and went to sit down and finish her drink.

But Taste suddenly got an idea and waved her over mysteriously. "Come here, quick, take a look."

He was pointing at a window set pretty high up, so you'd need to climb a nearby ladder to see out. Yor dragged her feet over, and Taste, too impatient, grabbed her and yanked her up the ladder, pointing outside. "Look!"

Outside the shed was a decent-sized yard. There was a sandpit dug out along one wall, and the setting sun made the golden sand look all warm and cozy.

In the middle of the sandpit, a little insect kid was holding a shovel, digging away at the sand like crazy.

The kid looked about three or four. Aside from the twitching antennae on its forehead, it looked just like a human kid from Blue Star—pale and cute.

But... cute as it was, why the heck did he need to sneakily call her over for this?

Yor turned around, confused as hell.

Taste leaned in and whispered, "Don't you think he looks kinda like you?"

?

This insect kid had the typical deep-set eyes and high brow of their kind. Besides the black hair, how the hell did it look anything like her?

Yor stayed quiet, but Taste was already off on his own rant: "I don't have pheromones, so I can't have a kid with you. But if you want one, we could just snatch him."

?

What? Since when can you just steal a kid? And what the hell did he mean by "have a kid with me"?

This insect's brain was way too fried...

Taste was fidgeting at the window like a monkey with fleas, scratching his head and ears like crazy.

Male insects had a natural instinct to raise larvae. Without a Broodmother around, the only way to get offspring was through tech—but those kids were basically just clones of the male, with zero chance of being better than the dad.

Even so, hatching a halfway healthy kid took a ton of effort and savings.

And it needed pheromones. An insect with a disability like Taste had already lost any shot at reproducing.

But he still really wanted a kid to raise and mess around with. Especially after meeting Yor—just thinking about raising a kid with her made his heart light up like fireworks.

And now, right downstairs, there was a ready-made kid!

Yor slowly climbed down the ladder, sat back in her spot, and finished her hot drink. Only then did she address the eager young insect. "You can't afford to raise him."

"!"

"You can't even afford your own ticket back to the War Department."

"Ugh, it's so unlucky getting hurt. No pheromones, can't pilot warships anymore. If I could still pilot one, I'd dare to—not just one kid, I'd take ten..." The young insect, severely lacking in legal awareness, rambled on, but stopped mid-sentence when he saw Yor staring out the window in utter horror.

Following Yor's gaze, the once-flat sky looked like a fragile piece of cloth, violently torn open into an ugly gash. From the dark opening, a massive pitch-black warship was slowly emerging.

The warship hovered silently above the spaceport, blocking the last rays of the setting sun and casting an entire shadow over the ground below.

The insect warship was fierce and cold; even just sitting there motionless, it inspired dread. The scene felt like the arrival of doomsday, leaving Yor speechless with shock.

Strangely, Taste—who should have been used to warships—was also flailing his limbs, unable to form a complete sentence.

"Ah!" Taste pointed excitedly at the starship. He wanted to speak, but also seemed to want to cover his mouth. How could he have just been muttering about the War Department's starship, and now one actually appeared?!

What was wrong with his mouth!

And this was... this was their War Lord's main flagship! Nothing like the little escort ship he used to pilot. He'd actually summoned the Lord's flagship with his words!!

It was Yor who calmed down first.

This was the home planet of the Purification Department. The Pure Division Lord's most important labs were all here. Thinking of the news about the successful "Broodmother" cultivation in the lab, the War Department must have been invited.

Sure enough, moments later, a silver-white ship floated up to dock with the pitch-black warship.

Yor remembered this kind of ship.

The Pure Division Lord—that stunningly handsome insect with the unnervingly cold eyes—had been sitting in just such a ship.

Looking down from above, he had pointed directly at her.

And she had been selected, stuffed into a biological capsule, and taken away from Blue Star to hell.

She had already escaped. The Purification Department wouldn't be interested in her anymore.

Staring at the silver-white ship from afar, Yor struggled to suppress the trembling in her heart.

While Yor watched the sky, Taste, behind her, answered a communication call.

"Hey... what do you want?" He drawled, his voice sounding completely lifeless, so any bug on the other end would know their call wasn't welcome.

The other party said something, and Taste stood at attention like a schoolboy, looking skeptical: "Really? Of course I'm getting on that ship!"

He'd just gotten excited when he turned and saw Yor, his tone softening a bit: "I've got one more bug I need to bring."

The other side pressed for details, and his voice rose: "What's with all the questions? Just tell me if you can take us or not!"

......

He jabbered on for ages, his attitude anything but pleasant, which had Yor's heart in his throat.

After hanging up, Taste acted like he hadn't just been in a fight, grinning ear to ear as he sidled over: "Our lord is coming to pick up the Broodmother. He gave orders that any bug still in the Purification Department can follow his starship back, saving us the cost of a ticket! Even family bugs can ride along on the starship. You gotta hand it to our War Department's lord—no bug lord in the whole race cares more about his subordinates than our War Lord!"

Taste rambled on as usual, and Yor didn't interrupt him. Getting away as soon as possible was exactly what he wanted.

Early the next morning, Taste led Yor around to a boarding gate at the back of the starship, where a bug standing tall and straight was already waiting.

Compared to Taste, whose shoe heels were worn down crooked on one side, this bug's uniform fit like a glove, not even a single button loose. With just a cold, brief glance their way, Taste instinctively straightened his back, his sloppy attitude toned down a notch.

He'd held power for so long—not someone to mess with.

Yor sized him up instinctively, then quickly looked away.

But the bug opposite him kept staring at Yor, frowning slightly as he asked Taste: "Is this the family bug you mentioned?"

Yor's eyebrow twitched. This bug looked a bit like Taste. Though Taste looked reluctant, he instinctively leaned closer, suggesting this was likely his older brother.

That idiot Taste—he only had one blood relative, his brother. How was Yor family at all?

Yor was in a bind. This bug was clearly high-ranking on the ship, and pissing him off wouldn't be smart.

As the bug's face grew darker and darker and Taste stuck his neck out, refusing to back down, saying stuff like "I said he's family, so he's family—what's it to you?" Yor was starting to panic.

He had to get on that ship. He had to get out of the Purification Department.

Yor rubbed his chest, which ached with a strange, hard-to-describe soreness, and gritted his teeth.

Ever since he'd gotten this weird psychic power, like something out of an old-school fantasy novel, he felt as if he'd inherited some weird knowledge. Not only could he read the info in pheromones, but he also had a vague sense of these changes in his body.

He knew—he was about to start producing honey.

And the bug before him, Taste's brother, seemed like he'd just gotten off the battlefield. Long battles and shifts had left his mental sea in total chaos; the fact he could still stand was a testament to his insane willpower.

But his condition really was bad. Like now, when his cocky little brother mouthed off without thinking, this usually steady, disciplined bug had already raised a fist as big as a clay pot.

He didn't even care that his brother had just lost half his body, the edges of his new mechanical limb still caked with blood.

==========Author's Note:==========

Taste & Dexter, Tastin & Dex—the fried-chicken brothers, just so the names are easy to remember, haha.