Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Glancing at Yor's hand, still held by the pure bug, Lima's gaze lingered on their clasped hands for two seconds.

"This way, please." A professional smile plastered on his face, he led the pure bug a couple of steps aside—not far, just enough to force the pure bug to let go of Yor's hand—"Let's get the paperwork done first."

The deep-green-haired pure bug was cooperative, letting go without a fuss and following along.

Yor, meanwhile, looked at his own hand. That pure bug's pheromones were so strong!

The moment that warmth of pheromones withdrew from his palm, Yor almost felt reluctant to let it go—just that brief contact had already made his body feel a whole lot better.

He followed on instinct. "I'll come with you. What's your name?"

Hearing the question, the pure bug turned around, and only then did Yor get a clear look at his eyes—deep green pupils with what looked like bits of starlight glinting in them. Honestly... gorgeous.

But that starlight barely lasted a second in Yor's view before the pure bug quickly dropped his gaze. He opened his mouth, lips twitching slightly.

Yor figured he was about to say something and waited two seconds—but nothing came out.

The pure bug tried again, a little flustered, but the more anxious he got, the worse it got. This time, only a faint breathy sound squeezed out of his throat, as if something was stuck there that just wouldn't budge.

His lashes fluttered. He hung his head, not daring to meet Yor's eyes.

A moment later, a mechanical voice came from near his collar: "Zhuoluo. I'm Zhuoluo... Yor Broodmother."

Yor blinked in surprise. On closer look, he realized it wasn't the pure bug speaking, but a small voice box clipped to his collar.

He really was painfully shy—and it made it even more impressive that he'd managed to bid on Yor earlier.

Yor looked at Zhuoluo's bowed, deep-green head and was about to say something to ease his tension when Lima stepped forward, sliding between them smoothly without making it awkward.

"Lord Zhuoluo," he said, flashing a standard professional smile at the pure bug, "here's the contract. Three key points to note."

Zhuoluo looked relieved, like he'd just been saved. He turned eagerly to Lima and nodded.

Lima kept his smile. "First, physical contact—holding hands, hugging, and simple pheromone sniffing are all allowed."

"However, if you're staying overnight, you need Yor's explicit consent, and a security bug will be posted outside the bedroom door."

Zhuoluo's lashes fluttered a little. Yor figured he'd gotten nervous again at the words "overnight stays."

But Lima didn't give him much time to react, continuing: "As for daily activities—you cannot leave Vorna Star, no dangerous activities, and no forcing each other to do anything. That's about it."

Zhuoluo nodded—a small nod, but a serious one.

He took the electronic pen Lima offered and signed his name slowly, stroke by stroke on the writing pad.

Yor watched him, then blurted out: "So, you staying overnight with me tonight?"

Zhuoluo's pen froze mid-stroke. His whole body seemed to freeze—he didn't even breathe for two full seconds.

Then, he jerked his head up to look at Yor—but just one glance. The next second, he was gone, poof, from where he stood.

So he really was a high-grade bug...

Yor only saw a blur, too fast to even catch an afterimage. When he refocused, Zhuoluo had already ducked behind his red-haired companion, both hands gripping the other bug's shoulders, just the top of his deep-green head peeking out.

Two seconds later, a weak, shaky voice floated out from behind the red-haired bug: "C-Can... can it be tomorrow?"

Yor: "..."

But what about tonight's pheromones?

He kept the grumble to himself, his expression still politely composed: "Of course. Want to exchange contact info first?"

Zhuoluo poked half his head out from behind the red-haired bug and nodded quickly.

After they added each other's contacts, Zhuoluo let out a breath like he'd just finished some huge ordeal, then shuffled off with the red-haired bug.

Once the two bugs had completely disappeared out the bar's entrance, Lima wrapped his arms around Yor from behind, chin on his shoulder: "So... you wanna stay overnight with me tonight?"

Yor: "..."

You don't even have pheromones, Mama Lima.

"No." He patted Lima's hands around his waist. "I need to go home and get ready."

Fortunately, Zhuoluo's rank really was high—just that brief contact had already calmed a lot of the heat surging from deep inside him. It should hold until tomorrow morning.

Even though he'd been turned down, Lima still walked Yor home.

The second Yor lay down in his sleep pod, he opened his terminal and looked up Zhuoluo's name.

No KPI pressure, but keeping clients happy meant more contact, and more contact meant more pheromones. Yor was willing to work for pheromones.

Zhuoluo's info wasn't hard to dig up. He was a Sub-Lord-class bug who'd designed a series of best-selling mechanical elytra, with a solid rep in the war bug community. A lot of high-ranking war bugs with aerial combat needs specifically hired him for custom jobs.

He sounded pretty loaded... so why was he so broke that he had nothing left after bidding on Yor?

After getting a rough sense of the client's tastes, Yor had a general idea. He shut off the terminal and got ready to sleep, saving his energy for tomorrow.

While Yor was looking into Zhuoluo, Zhuoluo was pacing nervously in his dorm room.

He muttered to himself as he paced, while his red-haired roommate Morris lounged against the headboard, scrolling on his terminal. Morris finally couldn't take it anymore: "Can you sit down?"

Zhuoluo stopped, glanced at him, then went back to pacing.

"Say... where's a good place to take a Broodmother tomorrow?"

"What good places does a mining planet have?" the red-haired bug replied without looking up. "Just bars, fighting arenas, and those places for male bugs to blow off steam."

Zhuoluo stopped, quiet for a few seconds: "...That won't work."

"Then grab a meal."

"And after that?"

"After that, go get a drink."

Zhuoluo looked down at his terminal. On the screen was an open page titled "Vorna Star Travel Guide"—something ancient that took forever to load. The content was just three lines: eat, check out the mine pits, take photos.

"...Forget it." He closed the page and flopped into his chair, staring at the ceiling, his green lashes fluttering with each blink.

The next morning, Zhuoluo showed up at the foot of the hillside right on time.

He didn't knock, just stood a little ways from the courtyard gate, waiting like an idiot.

When Yor pushed open the courtyard door, this is what he saw: a tall, skinny pure bug standing in the morning light, head down, fingers fidgeting together, back ramrod straight—like... a lush green tree.

Yor didn't approach immediately, just called out a greeting from a distance: "Morning."

Zhuoluo looked up, saw Yor standing at the door, and immediately lowered his head again, but his shoulders relaxed noticeably—the distance Yor kept made him less nervous.

"Morning... good morning." The vocalizer emitted a mechanical greeting.

Yor walked over with a smile. "Where are we going today?"

Zhuoluo's voice was uncertain: "...Get breakfast first?"

The place Zhuoluo took Yor turned out to be teeming with bugs.

The breakfast shop's line stretched all the way to the street corner, and the morning miner's market was packed like sardines.

Watching Zhuoluo unconsciously hunching his shoulders to avoid contact with other bugs, almost walking into walls several times, Yor finally spoke up: "Can you take me to see where you work?"

Zhuoluo froze for a moment. "The workshop?"

"Yeah, I heard from Lima that you're here for the mechanical limb mission." Yor said casually. "I've never seen mechanical limbs being installed."

Zhuoluo hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded.

The workshop was in a gray building near the port. The moment they pushed through the door, Yor could feel all the tension drain from Zhuoluo's entire body.

He hung his coat on a hook by the door on his way in, walked to the workbench, and casually adjusted some equipment nearby.

"Oh, this is Morris." Zhuoluo gestured to the red-haired bug at the neighboring workbench, then pointed at the scattered parts on the table. "He's my colleague."

Morris glanced at the visitor with some surprise, gave a quick, half-hearted nod, then retreated to a corner and tried to make himself invisible.

Yor: "...."

Man, these bugs are all introverts.

Luckily, Zhuoluo was way more relaxed now and began introducing his work.

The mechanical elytra hung on display racks along the wall, each one imposing and majestic—sleek silhouettes, aggressive builds, the dream wings of any war bug.

If Taste were here, he probably wouldn't be able to tear his eyes away, let alone move his feet—he'd be yapping nonstop...

Zhuoluo launched into his introduction with practiced ease, like he was reciting a memorized product manual. He clearly explained each model's specs, intended users, and combat performance.

Mid-listening, Yor suddenly asked: "Is this your hobby?"

Zhuoluo looked back at Yor with confusion.

Yor sat in the chair by the workbench, his gaze calm. "You know I'm from the pure bug lab, right? I know that look in the researchers' eyes when they're observing their test subjects."

Those experimental bugs...

Zhuoluo's face twisted for a moment, and he rushed to explain in his electronic voice: "Even among pure bugs, there are many who don't like the Broodmother experiments! I'm one of them—"

But Yor just smiled and gave Zhuoluo's shoulder a gentle pat. "That's not what I meant. I'm saying, compared to their feverish obsession with test subjects, you're calm."

He reached out to touch the dangerous mechanical elytra, and said softly: "These are products everyone loves—not what you love yourself, right?"

Zhuoluo's eyes widened, and for the first time, he let Yor see the full starlight in his eyes.

He opened his mouth, and for the first time, spoke to Yor in his own voice: "...Yes, Broodmother Yor. These... are just work."

Yor tilted his head with a smile. He didn't say a word, but the meaning was clear: So, would you share your real hobby with me?

Zhuoluo clearly got it, but his voice was strained: "...My tastes... aren't fit for public view."

Yor didn't say "that's not true." He just nodded again and said, "Having something you love is already a happy thing."

He picked up the product manual and studied it carefully. Once he saved up enough money, he really wanted to send a pair to Taste—not to the starship, but back to... their home.

Zhuoluo stood behind him for a moment, then suddenly took a deep breath. "Would you like to see?"

Without waiting for Yor's answer, he reached out and pressed a gene-locked button on the side of the workbench.

The whole workshop came to life.

The gray metal panels on the walls slid open without a sound, revealing a living green wall that wrapped around the entire room. Dense green vegetation spread out in layers, with vines hanging down and tiny specks of light scattered throughout, and unfamiliar flowers slowly unfurled their petals under simulated sunlight.

The color scheme was exquisite—deep green and light purple interwoven, with pops of bright yellow here and there.

Even though it was made of metal, it was lifelike, right down to the fine fuzz on the petal edges. With the fresh air and moisture simulation, it really felt like stepping into a flower valley.

Yor stood there, unable to speak for a long time.

It wasn't because of how visually stunning it all was...

But because of the light specks, the vines, the half-finished petals scattered across the workbench—all those details piled together made him realize this was something a bug had spent who knows how long painstakingly crafting, piece by piece.

"It's so beautiful."

Those two words made Zhuoluo's eyelashes tremble violently. He lowered his head, blushing, his body trembling slightly.

No one had ever acknowledged his hobby before.

"I... I have more!"

A single word of praise sent this pure bug into a frenzy of excitement. Ignoring Morris's hesitant look, he strode to the center of the flower valley and, after some fiddling, pulled out a storage box.

Glancing shyly at Yor, and seeing the Broodmother's eyes still full of admiration, he steeled himself and pressed the storage box gently.

As if some spatial magic had been cast on the box, row after row of clothing racks rose up, each one bearing... outfits with attached wings.

In the center hung a pair of translucent wings, with fine golden specks embedded between the veins—like flames plucked directly from the back of the Sun Goddess;

Beside it, a silver-white pair, adorned with ultra-fine silver thread and diamond chips, like moonlight and silver sand set into wings;

And another pair, whose color couldn't even be described, shifting its luster under different angles of light, like something alive...

Yor's eyes slowly widened.

This was... Victoria's Secret live!!

Even more extravagant than Victoria's Secret, because those wings truly seemed to have frozen starlight into shimmering brilliance.

Never in a million years did he expect to see something like this in the iron-blooded bug race.

Yor was speechless for a long time.

Zhuoluo, seeing his silence, seemed to snap out of a daydream and began scrambling to cover things up: "This is from before... I just thought it looked nice..."

What was he even doing?!

Not only had he exposed himself for slacking off on his real work, but he had also laid all these... these guilty pleasures of his bare before the Broodmother.

Flower valleys, wings, starlight—none of these belonged in an engineer's workshop. He felt like a prisoner stripped naked on the witness stand.

After stuffing the last pair of wings into the box, Zhuoluo closed the lid and kept his head down, not daring to look at Yor.

"...I'll escort you back." He switched back to his voice synthesizer.

Yor was taken aback and said instinctively, "No need to trouble yourself, I can find my own way back."

Zhuoluo's eyelashes trembled, as if those words had stabbed him again. Even the offer to escort her was refused—he deflated even more, but still insisted, "...I'll escort you."

With that, he turned and pushed open the workshop door, standing at the threshold waiting for Yor to come out, still hanging his head like a sun-scorched plant.

Yor watched him, hesitated, then got up and walked out.

At the doorway, Yor paused.

She turned around and suddenly spoke up: "...Are these for sale?"

Zhuoluo's head snapped up. "Sell?"

Sell to whom? In the entire insect race, who'd even want them besides himself?

Yor nodded earnestly, confirming, "Those wings—if I wore them, would you enjoy seeing that?"

For her PR work, clients would probably be interested in these exquisite props... right?

The next moment, the whole room erupted with pheromones—the excited, uncontainable, explosive pheromones of a male bug.

Not just Zhuoluo's, but even the red-haired Pure Bug's pheromones were mixed in.

Warm pheromones surged into her body, two surges of Purification Clan pheromones intertwining, so dense it felt like a thin hot mist had settled in the air.

Her body responded before her mind could catch up—her waist softened slightly, a thin sheen of sweat formed on her palms, and the thirst within her eased considerably.

Yor nodded slowly. This is great stuff!

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

Tomorrow is the big promotion day, so the update will be delayed until 11 PM~